


Finding a Way Out

by StripesnBooks



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Anxiety, Eventual Romance, F/F, F/M, Panic Attacks, References to Depression, Self-Harm, Slow Burn, everybody makes friends, humans are worthless garbage, politics eventually happen, pre and post pacifist run
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-18
Updated: 2018-05-20
Packaged: 2019-04-04 02:41:36
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 25
Words: 35,774
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14010381
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StripesnBooks/pseuds/StripesnBooks
Summary: [ON HIATUS] : this story has a plan, and a definite ending, but right now i'm focusing on my works in the multiverse of Homes After the Mountain, a series of inter-related Undertale stories. I will get back to this, and probably finish it before the end of the year, but for now it is a low priority. Sorry to anyone who was enjoying it!This may end up containing several graphic reference to depression and self harm and anxiety, so if any of these are triggers, be careful! Take care of yourself!When Rose woke up in the underground, unsure of where they were or what to do, they did the only thing they knew always worked: keep moving forward, and keep kindness in your heart. or in your SOUL, as the case may be.Faced with the loss of their now missing sibling, Cinnamon has to find them. They are their reason for living, and their sibling bond is the strongest and most sure thing she has in her life.Can these siblings find each other, and maybe save the underground in the process from isolation, homicidal flowers, and the horrors of human politics?





	1. Sometimes I Wish for Falling

**Author's Note:**

> Chapter 1-10 - Separated Siblings Arc  
> Chapter 10-? - Fighting Flowey Arc

Everything was so much. Too much. They didn’t know how they ended up here. There were scratches all over their arms and legs. How long had they walked? Did it matter? They just needed to keep moving. If they kept moving, they didn’t have to think. That was how to get away. You just move. So, they kept walking forward. One foot in front of the other. What was the worst that could happen? Dying? That’s not so bad. About on par with living probably. Really though, how far away from the path had they gone?

And then they were falling.

When Rose woke up, it was dark. But as they adjusted, and looked around, they saw that it wasn’t super dark. Looking up, they could see the hole they had fallen through. Stars and moonlight shone in from above. Far, far above. They checked their body, but nothing seemed to be majorly hurt. How long had they been out? They were in a cave, but there was an almost perfect circle of flowers that they had fallen onto. They stood on shaky legs. There was only one tunnel leading out. With a last longing glance to the sky above, they took a step forward. They had almost died. They took another step. They had almost DIED. Another step. They had almost been willing to die. Another step. No. two more steps. NO. three more steps. THEY COULD NOT DIE HERE. They were at a brisk pace now, walking forward, their face full of determination. They would only let them think about the five reasons to live. They were running. They had to, they had to do something to feel alive, remember that THIS, this is what being alive is. And it felt good. They were so caught up in running and giggling that they tripped over something sticking out of the ground, scraping their knees and hands. A vine?

“Howdy!”

Their head slowly lifted to look in front of them. There was a flower. With a face. Rose blinked. The flower blinked back.

After a few more seconds where Rose remained silently stunned, the flower spoke again. “I’m Flowey! Flowey the flower.”

“You... you sure are a flower,” Rose managed to say. Had they died? But they felt so alive. Was it a dream? Hologram? Trick?

“Golly, you’re new here aren’t you? Someone oughta teach you the rules!” the flower gave a silly wink and Rose could swear they saw a twinkle.

They laughed. “You know what, okay Flowey. Where am I?”

Flowey’s smile grew... wider? “Well this is the underground!” Something blinked around them, and Rose looked down to see a glowing green heart shaped thing floating away from them. It felt... uncomfortable. Almost wrong. Flowey saw their look of slight panic and smiled... wider. Something changed with every twitch upward of their mouth. “This is a culmination of your SOUL!” the flower happily proclaimed.

Now Rose was nervous. They didn’t know why, but they felt... vulnerable. The heart seemed trapped on a 2-D plane, but then Rose noticed. It moved with them. They could control it! Lost in making their little heart go around in circles, Rose missed some of what the flower said next. They snapped back to attention as white spinning specks appeared around their SOUL.

“Try to catch as many as you can!” the flower said cheerily.

“Okay...” Rose tentatively moved the soul towards one pellet as they all flew quickly together. And they collapsed as it made contact. Something /hurt/. They saw a number out of the corner of their eye. The number read HP: 1. Their eyes widened. Those were familiar terms. “What was that?!” They looked back to the flower, but its smile was gone. Or... something that was not a smile was there. Rose backed up, trying to take their soul with them, but they couldn’t move it out of that strange plane. It rushed frantically to the left before hitting some kind of border, then down, right, up... it was stuck in some sort of confines.

“You IDIOT.” The flower cackled. “In this world, it’s kill or be killed!” Manically, it cackled long and loud as more while pellets approached Rose’s struggling soul.

And then there was a sense of warmth, and safety. The pellets disappeared and the flower squeaked as something knocked it aside.

“Oh! Poor child. You are safe now.”

The large goat woman led Rose through the ruins, explaining as she went. Rose thanked her again and again for her help which had the large monster blushing. The place was full of puzzles, which had Rose secretly delighted. They loved puzzles. Well, when they were in the mood. They weren’t always good at them. But they were still fun! The monster, Toriel, was making them a bit too easy though. It was very cute.

“Alright child, I need you to practice with this dummy,” Toriel began, bringing Rose to face a crudely stitched together dummy. “If you are ever brought into battle, you need only strike up conversation with the monster until I can come diffuse the situation.”

“Was the flower telling the truth, then?” Rose asked slowly. “Are other monsters going to try and kill me?”

“Oh, no! dear child, it appears that you are much more easily hurt in these interactions than when we do it with other monsters. They do not mean to hurt you! Well,” she looked to the side, her eyes hard, “most of them. But you will find no such malicious monsters here in the ruins.”

Rose felt a bit more relaxed. “alright then!” They approached the training dummy and the SOUL came out. Having it out made their gut twist in anxiety, for some reason, but it was better than their body being attacked, right? Thinking back to how it felt when the flower had hit them, they took that back. It kind of hurt a lot.

“Go on child, talk to them,” Toriel encouraged from behind.

It felt silly. “H-hello!” The dummy did not answer. Toriel nodded at Rose to continue. “My name is Rose. Do you have a name?” no response. Was Toriel waiting for something? Why did they have to talk to the dummy again? “Don’t worry, even if you don’t want to talk I won’t think of you as a dummy.”

Toriel smiled happily. “I think you understand. Let us continue.”

A couple of small monsters approached as they continued, but Toriel quickly shooed them away. At the edge of the ruins, she asked Rose to wait there, and left her a phone. Rose sat on the cold ground, their back up against a stone wall. They looked at the phone; it seemed rather out of date. Phone. Phone! They scrambled to pull their phone out of their backpack.  
Their phone from the surface! It still had some battery, but no signal. They sighed. They would ask Toriel later about getting home.

A small froggit hopped over. Rose smiled at it warmly. “Hello there,” they greeted. The SOUL board popped up. Rose was already getting better at using it, and managed to dodge all the unintentional attacks. They looked back at the frog-thing, which was kind of nervously watching them. “Well aren’t you a little cutie.” They instinctively wanted to pet it, but resisted. It might be rude. The froggit seemed to blush, and Rose was able to get rid of the soul board. The froggit seemed satisfied, and hopped around the area making little croaks. It was almost like a tune. Rose hummed the tune back. Maybe they could be friends?

By the time Toriel returned, Rose was teaching several froggits to ribbit along to ‘twinkle twinkle little star’. They didn’t seem to really grasp the meaning, but got the tune almost right. 

They would occasionally get over excited and mess up the tempo, but Rose didn’t mind. Toriel couldn’t stop smiling, even as they bid goodbye and moved into the house.

“So,” rose began, “You live here alone.”

“Well, yes dear.” Toriel placed a piece of strange but delicious smelling pie on the table before them. “But with you here I am not alone!”

After a couple of small bites, Rose was shoveling the food into their mouth. It tasted and felt good. Almost like it was doing something more. They checked the strange MENU they had found and saw that their SOUL was indeed restored to health. “Toriel, I can’t stay here forever. But I’m really grateful for your help!”

Toriel stiffened. “My child, it is dangerous out there, and you are so young...”

“I’m 13. And you taught me how to defend myself! After MERCY the monsters are really nice. It’s really nice here, but there is someone I miss.”

“Yes... I suppose you will be wanting to get back to your real mother...” There was a pain behind her eyes that Rose could see, but not understand.

“Well... no.” it was said too quietly for Toriel to hear.

They finished the pie, and before going to bed, asked one more question. “Toriel?”

“Yes, my child?”

“Can I have a hug?”

Toriel all but dropped her book in her excitement. “Of course!” her embrace was fuzzy and warm.

Rose held on to that warmth. “It’s been a crazy day. Thank you so much for letting me stay here for now.”

“As long as you need, my dear. I would certainly love to show you more of the ruins, and my favorite books, and-“

Rose gave a squeeze before letting go. “And you have to give me the recipe for cinnamon butterscotch pie!”

Toriel’s eyes were watering. “If you stay long enough, we could make it together.”

Rose gave an optimistic nod, feeling much better after the hug. They said good night and went into the little room that they were offered. The bed was just big enough, and it felt so homey. “don’t worry Cyn, I’m fine...” they sent that whisper into the void as they drifted off, emotionally exhausted.


	2. Funny Bones

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Here come the skele-bros!   
> And we get a glimpse of the surface.

Rose stayed there two days, and they were blissful. They didn’t have to worry about anything, they just rested and read books with Toriel. Toriel brought up education more than once, but Rose insisted that they would go back to school when they got home. Each time after these conversations, Toriel would slowly walk away. But Rose soon felt physically and emotionally well enough to move again. They had to get home.

“Toriel?”

“Yes, my child?” Toriel put down the book she was reading.

“I need to go home. How do I get back up? It was a bit far of a fall for a ladder...” Toriel refused to look at them. “Is there another exit I could use?”

“Is there something wrong here?” Toriel’s voice was soft, and slightly cracked.

“What?”

“Is this place unpleasant? Have I don’t something to make you want to leave?”

“No, this place is wonderful, and I feel more safe than I have in years-“

“Then why must you leave? We can continue your education, you can learn about our history, we can cook together.” Toriel was standing now, her hands gently on Rose’s shoulders and something between despair and desperation in her eyes.

“My sister will be terrified.” The tears rose unbidden. “I can’t leave her alone.”

“She is safe on the surface! If you leave the ruins, then Asgore-“ Toriel stopped herself, putting her face in her hands. “I don’t want to lose another child.”

Rose gently took the monsters hands in their own. “Come with me? You can keep protecting me, and maybe I can bring Cyn back here! I’d love for you to meet her! Can I bring her here?”

“I- I can’t, what if another child falls down here?” Toriel took her hands back. “I’m... going to do something.”

She rushed off, but Rose followed.

“Always, always the same,” Toriel murmured, loud enough for Rose to hear. “Always leaving. Asgore always kills them. Can I not protect at least one of you?”

They stopped before a large door.

“I should destroy this thing once and for all.”

“Toriel...” Rose stood firm. “I have to leave. Maybe I can even find a way to get all the monsters out of here too! Back on the surface!”

Toriel wouldn’t meet their eyes. “... No.”

 

The battle took its toll on Rose. They stood out in the cold as the door closed behind them. Toriel wouldn’t come with them. They took a deep breath. Keep moving forward. But don’t forget whats behind. They spun around, and banged on the door.

“Toriel! I’ll come back for you! I promise!”

But no answer came.

 

Deep in the trees, he was watching. There was something about this kid that was different. Their SOUL... it was strong. Very strong. Just looking at their STATS, he could tell a lot about them. And a promise was a promise.

Rose followed the straight path. They would have to ask someone for help finding their way, but if the monsters out here were as nice as the ones in the ruins, it would be fine. Maybe they could make friends! There was something about this place that felt so much... safer than back home. And it was certainly beautiful. They lightly touched the trees as they walked. 

One foot in front of the other. Walking felt different, for some reason. Why? Why weren’t they tired? Why weren’t they sad? Step. Step. Step. Skip. The time with Toriel had done something. They felt so much lighter. Less afraid. Less trapped. Step, step, skip, skip. Shouldn’t they feel more trapped than ever? Step, skip, skip, skip.

“Hey, you.” A deep voice came from behind.

It was a skeleton? It was a skeleton. In a blue hoodie. Rose was a bit taken aback. The other monsters looked more like animals, and there was something a little sinister. Or maybe that was their bias. “Hi?”

The skeleton slouched over. He wasn’t nearly the giant that Toriel was, but he still towered a head above Rose. “I’m Sans. Sans the skeleton. Put ‘er there.” He held out a hand.

Feeling emboldened, Rose took it. The whoopee cushion let out its noise. After a second, Rose burst out laughing.

“Heh, ol’ whoopee cushion in the hand trick.” Sans seemed pleased at the reaction.

“Gosh!” Rose tried to calm their laughing. “How did I not see it?”

“Magic.” The skeleton winked an eye socket. That was certainly odd to look at.

“Well, nice t meet you, Sans the skeleton. Oh! You wouldn’t happen to know how to get to the surface, would you?”

His eye sockets dimmed for a bit. “Nope. ‘fraid we’re stuck here.”

“Because of the barrier, right?”

Sans was surprised they knew about that. “yeah.”

“But I’m human, so maybe I could get through! Maybe I could break it from the other side!”

That’s a green soul for ya, Sans thought. Wants to help already. “Who knows kid.” He shrugged. “Hey, ya think you could help me out with sumpin’?”

***

“Papyrus!” Rose stood tall before the skeleton, exhausted from their ‘friendship battle’. “Let’s cook spaghetti together!”

“EXCELLENT! I AM SO GLAD THE ROSE HUMAN HAS UNDERSTOOD THE BEAUTY OF SPAGHETTI AFTER I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, HAVE SHARED MY WONDERFUL COOKING!” Papyrus put his hands on his hip bones proudly.

Sans was smiling easily behind them. “Kid certainly looks like they could use a bit to eat.”

It was true, Rose was dying for some of that healing monster food. “Can we do it now? I could use a break before continuing on to Asgore.”

“ABSOLUTELY! LET US RETURN HOME POST-HASTE!” Papyrus ran off without looking back.

Rose huffed a little, not even close to having the energy needed to chase after. Sans approached them. “Hey, kid, I know a shortcut you don’t seem quite up for a long walk.”

“Yeah? Yeah. I’m a little. Tired. Butt he puzzles were fun!”

“heh, yeah. It’s not often someone actually sits down to do my word search.” Sans led them around a corner and suddenly they were outside the house, watching Papyrus run up to them.

“GOLLY! HOW DID YOU TWO GET HERE FIRST? YOU MUST BE TRULY POWERFUL TO HAVE BEAT THE GREAT PAPYRUS IN A RACE!” despite having lost this unannounced race, Papyrus seemed in a great mood.

“don’ know why you’re so shocked bro. To you its extraordinary, but to humans its probably extra ordinary.”

“SANS! DO NOT START WITH THE PUNS!”

“me, make puns around you? I ain’t got the guts for it.” he shot Rose a wink as they giggled.

“SANS! IT IS SPAGHETTI TIME! NOT PUN TIME!”

“I dunno kid, do you need any thyme for your spaghetti recipe? Should I check our spices?”

“SANS!”

“Don’t spa -GET- ti your knickers in a twist. Heh.”

“Sans, your puns are spa -GETTING out of control,” Rose chimed in. “gotta COOK up some better ones than that.”

“Hey, not bad kid.”

“NOT YOU TOO!”

As Rose corrected Papyrus’s misconceptions about making spaghetti, with the help (or hindrance) of a few jokes from Sans, they felt it again. Rose felt that feeling of safety, that they normally only felt when they were alone somewhere. Finally, the cooking lesson ended and they all sat on the couch together, watching a robot on TV.

“WOWEE! THIS MIGHT BE THE BEST PASTA I HAVE EVER MADE! THANK YOU FOR YOUR TIPS, HUMAN!” Papyrus was digging in, but somehow managed to keep his clothes clean.

“Wow, if you stayed around, Papyrus might be able to cook edible food every night.” Sans had eaten the food at some point, although his shirt had a couple sauce stains to show for it.

“When I get back to the surface, I can bring more recipes and stuff! I’m still learning, but my dad has lots of recipes!” Rose happily munched away, feeling much better already.

“Heh. Sure, kid.” Sans decided watching over this kid wouldn’t be as bad as he thought.

***

Cinnamon knew the Mt. Ebbot had been a bad idea. Why hadn’t she fought more? Why hadn’t she just downright refused to go? She knew why. But if she had known what was going to happen...

“Your parents are here.” The officer handed her backpack back to her.

She snatched it rudely, immediately regretting. It wasn’t his fault, this was just his job. Looking around, she found everything in there, except... “Where’s my staple gun?”

“Your parents requested it back.”

She groaned. She would not be getting that back from them. She met their stern glares with defiance, but quietly got in the car with them.

Her father started, his voice cold with anger and a fear he would readily admit. “You can’t go back there. Especially not by yourself. Do you have any idea how worried your mother and I were when the police called us?”

Her mother, by this point, was openly sobbing. “I can’t lose another child! I can’t lose you too!”

Cyn huffed. “You guys are doing what you can to find Rose, just let me do my thing too! You think I’m less affected?”

“I know how important your sibling is to you, and they are to us too, but let the rangers and police take care of it.” it was honestly amazing how well he was holding it together, even working.

“And what am I supposed to do? Keep my head down and relax? I’ve got over a month before college starts, and I’m not gonna waste it.” Cyn could feel the tears coming, but she pushed them back. No crying in front of her parents. That was one of the rules.

“We will. Find them.” Her father’s voice hardened, and Cyn shrunk back. Even when it was not directed at her, the fear and anger in his voice almost had a physical force to it.

Almost as soon as they got home, Cyn went back up to her room to laminate more posters. She would just have to buy a new staple gun of her own next time she went out. After she found where they hid her car keys this time. She had been stapling the posters to trees outward from the last place er sibling was seen, making a path to help them find their way home if they were lost. She tried to control the depression that bubbled up at the alternative, managing to turn it into anger instead. If someone had taken Rose... she pulled out her knife. 

Just for now. Just to stay in control. She had gone almost a year without cutting herself, but she had no better way to cope with this situation. She calmed down a little bit at the small rush of adrenaline from the wound. If someone hurt Rose, she would make them pay. She cleaned up her wound and covered it, going back to play house with her parents.


	3. Something Fishy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Undyne is murder-y, and Sans actually tries to keep his promise.

“NOW UNDYNE, REALLY, THE HUMAN IS MY FRIEND NOW!” Papyrus was taking on a lecturing tone.

“It has to be captured and taken to Asgore! With its soul we can free everyone’s hopes and dreams!” Undyne stabbed their spear into the ground for emphasis, but did it a bit too roughly, and it was stuck. She tugged at the spear, broke it, and just conjured another one. “I will defeat them!”

“HOW ABOUT WE STOP BY MY HOUSE FOR SPAGHETTI FIRST?”

“Fine! But just for a bit!” Undyne stalked off behind Papyrus, and Rose popped out of the grass. 

“Whoa!” The monster kid popped up beside them. “Undyne is so cool! I wonder if I can eat spaghetti with her too one day?!”

Rose giggled. “I bet you can. Heck, maybe you could do it now if you asked. Papyrus is super friendly.”

“Really? The skeletons always stayed a little away from the rest of us. Mom said there’s adult reasons, but maybe she’s just hiding how cool they are!”

“They’re really cool! Papyrus is fun and never runs out of energy. And Sans is silly and fun to make jokes with!”

“Wow! I’m gonna run over right now!” the kid took off, then tripped in his hurry. “I’m fine! See you later!”

Rose watched them run off, making sure they were fine until they were out of sight. Waterfall area was really breathtaking. The soft glow that seemed to come from everywhere was enchanting. The ceiling looked like a starry sky, but with more points of light than they had ever seen from the city. Maybe if the camping trip had gone better, they would have been able to see the real sky look like this.

“No dwelling. One foot in front of the other.”

The garden full of echo flowers was soothing. They could hear the murmurs of conversations long past. Gentle laughter. A couple of arguments. But it was nice, if a little spooky. If someone else had been near, they never would have known. Every now and then, Rose would pause to listen to the pieces of conversations in the flowers. More then ever, it made them want to help the monsters. Everyone deserved to be able to see the stars.

“Hey!” Rose spun around to see Undyne walking after them. Uh oh. Papyrus had said the Undyne might not be ready to make friends yet. “Hey, punk!”

Rose ran. 

Running was not exactly in their nature. When pressured, they preferred to talk things out or take what came, and so it was unsurprising that they weren’t exactly fast. However, Undyne was slowed by that spooky metal armor.

“Hey, you, wait! Get back here!”

The ground glowed around them, and Rose barely dodged the spears when they popped up, but they got the idea. They tried to push themselves faster, but it wasn’t working very well. A spear hit them, but instead of pain that SOUL board was brought up again, slowing Rose down as they had to complete the ‘fight’ to escape. Their wild run led them to another large patch of grass to hide in, and they dove in, bumping something in the process. Something that went ‘oof’.

The monster kid popped up. “Whoa! You got here as fast as Undyne! I knew she was headed this way!”

Undyne caught up and paused, staring between the two of you. “kid. I thought you were still eating spaghetti with Papyrus?”

“You were going to fight and I HAD to watch! You’re just so cool!”

Undyne grabbed the monster kid and dragged them away. “That’s it kid, I’m taking you home. This human is dangerous!”

“Wha? Human? Oh gosh don’t tell my parents!”

Rose sighed with relief. They would love to avoid a fight. And maybe Papyrus could calm Undyne down some.

***

It was a lot like flipping channels during commercial break. Sans would keep an eye on the human, occasionally slipping healing items into their pack when they ran low. They might not have enough determination for partial resets, and Sans didn’t want to risk it. he kinda liked this one. And when the human was messing around, not in danger, Sans could go to the nearest sentry station, or take a nap. This kid was the first in a while to not hurt anyone. The kindness in their SOUL shone so bright, most monsters noticed and barely attacked them, even though they were a human. Even after everything humans did, monster SOULs were simply not made to hold grudges. For most monsters, anyway. But Sans put that aside for another day. This kid was fine. This was one human that he didn’t regret helping. 

He looked at their STATS again. The dominant kindness in their SOUL made their attack really low, and the perseverance gave them adequate hit points. Not as many as a soul with determination fueling it, but Sans was watching them, so it would be fine.

The only thing he was worried about was that damn flower.

It kept popping up behind the kid, just... watching. He didn’t know much about that thing, whatever it was, but he knew he didn’t trust it. he couldn’t get a read on its SOUL, no matter what he did. And reading SOULs was his thing. Judge and jury, all that jazz, something Asgore had cooked up to ease his own guilt at murdering children, having Sans report those numbers before meeting any of the kids that got that far.

Why were they all kids? Sans was still looking into that. He and Alphys had theories, but nothing solid.

He took a ‘shortcut’, teleporting to check on the kid. They were just walking through waterfall, no big problems there. He flipped back to his hotdog stand. Running low on ketchup.

***

“You’re human, so I’m supposed to hate you, right? You’re the enemy.” The monster kid looked incredibly uncomfortable.

“I’m not the enemy,” Rose said, saddened. “I want to help. That’s why I’m trying to get out.”

“But Undyne said... gosh. This is hard. I believe you. I think Undyne just doesn’t know you’re a good human. We can show her! yeah!”

“Undyne is pretty scary right now though...”

“HEY! Twerp! Get away from that kid!” speak of the devil. Undyne popped out at the other end of the bridge, rushing forward. “I won’t let you brainwash them with your human lies!”   
Undyne stopped a few feet away. “Kid, go home and let me deal with this.”

“N-no!” The monster kid stepped between Rose and the warrior. “The human is my friend! They’re really nice and cool! Not as cool as you, but- I mean! They’re my friend and I’ll protect them!” if they had arms, it seemed this kid would have put them up, ready to fight. 

Undyne was obviously surprised. “You’ve brainwashed them already! You’ll pay for messing with everyone’s hopes and dreams!” she took menacing steps forward, and the monster kid trembled and steeped back.

And then they slipped.

They somehow caught the bridge with their teeth. Rose and Undyne descended as one, pulling the crying monster up.

“Kid! Are you okay! This is why you should train before you try and fight! You could have gotten really hurt!” Undyne tried to turn the panic in their voice to anger, and succeeded for the most part.

Rose, on the other hand, was embracing the trembling child. “It’s okay, the great Undyne saved you. Isn’t that cool?”

“It- it was pretty cool, the two of you working together...” the kid tried to sound cheery.

“We were not working together!” the fish monster protested.

“You totally were!” The kid was perking up now. “You came together and-and grabbed either side of me! And pulled me up together! You could defeat evil together, I bet!” Rose smiled gently at the kid, then hopefully at Undyne.

“Nngh! I’m taking you home kid!” Undyne picked up the monster kid, who called out goodbyes to Rose as they were carried away.

Rose kept checking behind them every now and then, but the royal guard never reappeared. The overwhelming heat from Hotland soon drove that worry from their mind. It was hotter than summer cement! They figured they’d get used to it soon, but it was certainly oppressive. Steam issued from vents all around, and Rose briefly wondered if Mt. Ebbot was a volcano. But then why would that park have been built on it? They were grateful for the tennis shoes that protected their feet from the sure to be searing ground.

One direction was blocked by royal guards, who when asked said that they were keeping humans out of the area, on orders from Undyne. They didn’t seem to know Rose was human, and they decided to simply wish the guards luck and go into the honestly intimidating laboratory ahead.


	4. Research and Rumors

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Cinnamon refuses to stop, and Alphys nerds out.

Cyn started carrying very specific things in her backpack. She also started never going anywhere without it. the missing posters were a given. The staple gun had to be used carefully, out of eyesight of her parents. Then there was a folder with all the information she had found on Mt. Ebbot and the other people that had been on the mountain at the time. No leads there yet. she had just gotten back from the library, since it was the best place to print so many flyers. Now she was looking up the history of Mt. Ebbot, looking for anyone that might live there in secret or which parts the park rangers were less likely to catch her putting up posters. But she had gotten lost in a trail of links talking about the myths around the mountain.

Cinnamon was not particularly superstitious, but did believe in things that hadn’t yet been proven. Like ghosts. She very much believed in ghosts. The myths of Mt. Ebbot varied, but seemed to go back hundreds, if not thousands, of years. The common theme was that people who went up the mountain had a habit of disappearing, with no remains ever being found. But the past few years, a campsite had opened up and that seemed to be fine. Besides Rose, there were no recent disappearances, so serial killer. With that thought, Cyn furtively glanced around before using her knife for a quick shot of adrenaline. Nothing deep, no more scars, she rationalized. Just to get through this. Just until Rose is back. A more upsetting myth was that some kind of bigfoot-like monster roamed the mountain, eating children. It could just be some sort of large bear or maybe a pack of wolves, but if there were dangerous animals like that there would they have opened a park there? Well, probably. If they were far enough away. Only a few other things of interest popped up down that path, missing children around their tweens in decades past. Some sort of religious war ending there, but that was too associated with myth to find much information on.

She turned back to looking at the maps of the area, searching through altitudes and any documented trails, even trying to see if the patterns of natural growth gave any indication. But there was surprisingly little technical information, besides around a garbage dump on the other side of the mountain. Maybe that would be worth checking out, after tracking down a couple more people from her list. She sighed. It was almost overwhelming.

She took out her knife.

***

“D-don’t worry!” Alphys wrung her cute little claws nervously. “I’ve done a lot of research, and I-I think you can beat Mettaton!”

The killer robot had given their quiz and left soon after. Rose, for some reason, found it hard to take the show boating monster seriously. Undyne had been far scarier. “So, doctor Alphys, who do you have a crush on?”

Alphys blushed so hard, her scales almost seemed to glow. “I-I-I! Th-that’s n-not! Relevant!”

“It’s Asgore or Undyne, right? Those were the options?” Rose could tell which one by how Alphys reacted. But while she was embarrassed, it seemed like she really wanted to talk about it to someone, too. “Tell me all about it!”

“Ah, b-b-but, don’t you have t-to, um, go to Asgore? You have to get home! R-right?” Alphys was rushing around the lab now, straightening stacks of papers without really touching them, adjusting her anime figurines, and other tasks simply to avoid eye contact.

“I have time! No rush! In exchange, I could tell you about my date with papyrus?” Rose insisted. They reaaaally wanted to know. They liked this doctor. Maybe they could help set them on a date! Rose had only been on one unexciting date with a human before Papyrus, but they still knew the basics!

“I k-kind of watched you on th-that date...” Alphys admitted sheepishly. “W-with my cameras...”

“Aw... But maybe I could help! C’mon, please tell me?”

Alphys wrung her hands, her blush only fading a bit. “W-well, if you p-promise not to tell anyone... I’m still w-working on c-c-c-c-c-confessing...”

“I promise!”

“It’s... i-i-i-i-it’s... Un-un-unnnnnnnnn ICANTEVENSAYITOHGOSH.”

“I knew it was Undyne! I have it on good authority that she is really cool.” 

Alphys blushed but she also couldn’t seem to stop smiling. “Sh-she really is! She’s super confident, and strong, and we watch anime together sometimes...!”

“That sounds really great!” Rose had seen upstairs the rows of anime box sets, labeled as historical records. “I like anime too, maybe we could all watch it together.”

“Oh my gosh! Yes! Here can I see your phone? I’ll add my number!”

Rose dug through their backpack for the clunky monster phone. Their hand touched on their phone from the surface. Cinnamon must be so worried. “Alphys?”

“Yeah?”

“Could you get a phone to connect to the surface?”

Alphys blinked. “N-no, the barrier seems to prevent us from getting any signals from human networks. Otherwise Mettaton wouldn’t be the only thing on TV.”

“Oh.” Trying to hide their disappointment, they pulled out their monster phone and handed it over. “Then there’s no way to contact the surface from down here?”

“N-n-n-n-no. ah, th-this is a m-much older model isn’t it? let me j-just...” Alphys went over to her desk and began tinkering with the phone. 

Rose watched for a few seconds before exploring the lab some more. The books and movies on the shelves upstairs help familiar topics, but unfamiliar names. There were some on science, some philosophy, and some of what Rose was almost certain was those gooey silly romance novels. Yuck. But on the walls were anime posters, much more interesting. Rose felt a pang. They missed home. In such an alien environment, and the constant adrenaline, they hadn’t had time to feel homesick. But now, they did. They missed the keyboard at home. They missed grass and trees. They missed their friends. But most of all, they missed Cyn. And they knew, without a shred of doubt, that Cyn had to be sick with worry right now, probably looking all over for them. How many days had Rose been missing now? There was no sun to go by, and for some reason they felt almost constantly energized, but maybe five days? A week? They weren’t sure.

“R-r-rose? I, um, updated your phone some.” At hearing Alphys, Rose wiped their eyes and fixed their face before heading down. “So um, now it can access the undernet, which is our internet, and I set you up with a couple apps, and, um, my number is in there too.”

“Cool! Thanks!”

They made their way through the Hotlands, the battles getting easier as fewer monsters tried to fight them. They stopped every now and then to pet a Vulkin or humor a tsundereplane. The sheer friendliness of all these monster never ceased to move Rose. They hoped they could break the barrier after they went home. No. not hope. They would do it, no matter what. They were determined. 

***

Rose laughed as the stacked hot dogs fell off their head after only a split-second. “Cyn would be so much better at this.”

“whats that, kiddo?” Sans took a swig from a ketchup bottle.

“My sister is really good at balancing stuff.” Rose leaned on the hot dog cart. “I can’t wait for her to meet everyone.”

“...sounds nice.”

Rose felt almost guilty at the gaps of time when they got so caught up in the magic of the underground that they didn’t think about Cinnamon. Shouldn’t they be in more of a hurry to get home? Cyn had to be worried sick. Who knew what she was doing after all these... days? Weeks? “Hey, Sans?”

“yeah?”

“What would you do if Papyrus went missing?”

Sans eye lights narrowed to pin pricks. “why ya askin’ kid? Someone as cool as him could never go missing.”

“You remind me a lot of my older sister.” Sans blinked in surprise. “She’s always saying how cool I am, and always supports me. She protects me from things she thinks I don’t notice. And so I protect her too, in other ways.”

“sounds like a pretty cool sibling.”

“She is. She’s amazing. I was jealous of her a lot when we were growing up, before I realized... a lot of things. But she’s probably scared that I’m missing.”

Sans tried not to think about what he would do in that situation. But he knew. “well, if Paps went missing, of course I’d search high and low. But I trust him to be fine. I know he’s too great for anything bad to happen. I’m sure your sis is fine.”

They both knew he was lying. But Rose let it lie. Heh. 

Sans kept a closer eye on the human as they went through Hotland. The battles were getting more dangerous, and he was putting more effort than ever to keeping the kid safe. 

Especially during the fight with Muffet. He tried his best to be subtle, but the spider lady had definitely noticed his gravity slowing her pet. He was relieved when the kid finally thought to bring out the spider donut from the ruins. Thank Asgore, he couldn’t have kept that up for long. Not with any amount of subtlety. And he didn’t want to test his theory that this human soul didn’t have enough determination for resets. His own determination would have to make up for it.

He was relieved when Rose went to meet with Papyrus, until they went to meet Undyne, of all monsters.

“never a dull moment with this kid,” he mused. Almost as if they were looking for excuses to stay down here. But if that were the case, why leave. He thought back to their previous conversation. What would Papyrus do, Sans wondered, if his sweet younger brother were stranded on the surface. Sans chuckled as he realized Papyrus would probably do the same as Rose. Make friends everywhere he went, never hurting a SOUL. And if Sans ever lost Papyrus? Of course what he said before was a lie. Not one of his best ones, either, just one made to comfort a child.

If Papyrus was stranded like this...

Sans would find him, to the depths of Hell.

A n d l o r d h e l p a n y o n e t h a t g o t i n h i s w a y.


	5. The Depths of Hell

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Last chapter of the Underground arc

Cinnamon had stopped talking to her friends, ignoring their worried messages. She couldn’t stop her tasks. She hadn’t been home in a couple days. Her parent’s calls were only answered by short texts, all along the same vein. I’m fine. Just working. She had taken the second car, the one that was technically her mom’s, and had slept there the night before. She was grateful for her saved up birthday money. She had plowed through the food she brought far too quickly to make up for all the calories she was using running around. Cyn was running shorts on leads, and just hoped her frantic parents hadn’t called the police to find her. it was probably fine, only 2 days. But that had been one of the threats they left on her voicemail. She hadn’t showered in a couple days, and her messy hair was pulled back in a ponytail. She was parked outside the garbage dump, working up the courage to go talk to whoever worked there. She did her best to bury all the fears that came with human interaction, especially the ones along the lines of ‘being kidnapped and murdered at some out-of-the-way garbage dump’. She flicked her knife open and shut absently.

One for the money.

What other options did she have?

Two for the show.

Maybe you were even there, hiding in the garbage.

Three to get ready.

The thought of Rose, covered in garbage but safe, made her smile.

Four to go.

She closed her knife and exited the car.

 

The workers didn’t recognize Rose’s pictures. A bit of begging got Cyn access to look around the garbage, but she was told that taking any junk home costed per pound. While normally tempting, dumpster diving was currently the last thing on her mind. As she exited, she decided to check the surrounding area, pushing into the forest.

***

Rose was a little in shock. “You... you mean I can’t get back?”

Alphys wrung her hands. She could feel her sin tally growing, and it was time to face at least one of them. “No... I’m sorry. To get through the barrier, you need the power of at least one human and one monster soul.”

“But then... how did I get down here?”

“Um, we still don’t know... how that happens.” Alphys couldn’t look up. “But, you could still have a life down here. You don’t have to go to Asgore.” Rose was silent, frozen. “I... understand if you don’t want to talk to me. I-I’ll leave now.” The scaly monster took a few steps away. She turned back one more time. “It w-was really, um, nice. Being your friend f-for a little.”

Rose wanted to call out that Alphys was still their friend. They wanted to cry out that Alphys was wrong, and it had to be possible. They wanted to push aside this unacceptable fact, and instead focus on making Alphys feel better. Normally it was so easy for them to push aside their worries to comfort others. But this time, it was too much. Rose fell to their knees, deep in the underground, and sobbed. Knight knight and final froggit approached, worried by the crying. They looked at each other. Knight knight began to hum a soothing tune, and final froggit croaked along. It soothed Rose into falling asleep on the warm floor of the CORE.

***

Sans stared at the form of the human. He had seen the little times before that Rose had taken to cry, in out of the way places where she hoped her new friends couldn’t see her. but Sans saw everything. Knoght knight was still watching over the fallen human, and stood defensively when Sans approached their sleeping form. Sans walked past them to lay his jacket over Rose. Knight knight nodded approvingly. Sans went to wait in the judgement hall, debating his next move.

He wanted to protect this child, barrier be damned. It was more than a promise now, this kid was something pure that didn’t deserve to die. One of the few things in the underground that wasn’t just trash in the end. Trash like him. Sans sighed. So what would he do? He could keep them from going to Asgore. Would they still go there, now that they knew the truth? Maybe they go safely back to the ruins. Maybe the kid and him together could convince Toriel to come out, after all these years. Hell, if Tori wouldn’t open up, the kid could stay with him and Paps. They had a couch, could maybe build another room onto the house.

And then they were there.

“hey kid.”

Rose’s face was still red with tears both shed and yet unshed. There would be time for crying later. “Hi Sans.”

“you know, Paps really likes you.” He rubbed the back of his skull, nervous sweat beginning to form. “he’d probably love it if you wanted to stay with us for a while.”

“Alphys said I can’t get through the barrier.” The voice held no sadness, no joy, nothing. 

Why were they even still going? Why not turn back? “yeah... that’s right. Let’s just... go home, yeah?”

“Not yet.”

“kid, what exactly are you planning on doing?”

“I’m... going to see if Asgore will let me through. I got in, maybe I can get out? Maybe I’m... special...”

Sans could almost feel his heart break. There wasn’t any belief behind the words. They weren’t going forward because they thought anything would come of it. they were going forward because they had to.

Just keep moving.

They took a step towards Sans.

One foot in front of the other.

They were getting closer. Sans made sure he was in their path. “kid, everyone down here loves you. You could probably be happy here, right?”

Step. Step. Step.

“c’mon, stop to think about it a little?”

Rose could not stop.

“you’re just pulling my leg-bones, right? Let’s go home.”

Rose walked right past Sans without looking at him.

***

The forest around the dump was just as much a dump. People who didn’t want to pay to turn their garbage in had just tossed it into the woods. As Cinnamon kept moving, they found a stream, carrying some of the garbage along. Gross. Humans were trash. She followed the water as it flowed, and grew wider. She didn’t think it would lead anywhere productive, but she needed to walk off her frustration. Her desperation. The water was calming to watch.

***

Asgore hated this part. “Child, are you sure you are ready?” he could not meet their eyes. 

Rose stared for a few seconds at the barrier. In a small voice, they spoke. “Can I try, just once?”

Asgore nodded.

***

Cyn stopped when she reached the place where the river disappeared into the mountain. Might as well turn around and follow the next lead. But then something happened.

Something deep inside Cyn, somewhere she didn’t even know existed, THROBBED.

Her world seemed to shake.

And it was throbbing in a... certain direction? Something was calling her, all of her being screamed to follow this feeling.

She ran.

***

Something deep inside Rose THROBBED as they approached the barrier. They stumbled, nearly bowled over by the sheer intensity. They spun around to look at Asgore, but he seemed only confused, and a bit worried.

“Child, are you alright?”

It THROBBED again. Calling them. They turned slowly around and moved, trance-like, towards the barrier.

***

Sans ran int eh room. Dammit, he was going to save this one, even against Asgore. He stopped, unable to tear his eyes from Rose’s SOUL.

***

Cinnamon ran, tripping over roots and slipping on loose dirt and leaves, but scrambled all the faster for it, ignoring the superficial cuts and the bruises that were sure to form. There was a small cave, more a break in the rocks that was just big enough to crouch into. Some rational part of her mind screamed that wild animals probably lived here, but she couldn’t hear it over the need that was pulling her, deep in her bones.

Rose.

She didn’t know why this feeling made her think of her sibling, maybe she was going crazy, but it didn’t matter.

She reached the back of the cave, where it was tall enough for her to kneel. The feeling in her gut told her to go farther, to go through the wall, and she desperate clawed at the ungiving stone. The throbbing increased, to the point of being painful, and then she saw it.

It felt as if a piece of her was detaching and floating forward. 

She watched in horror as her SOUL manifested and sunk into the rock.

***

Rose watched in complete shock as their SOUL floated away from their body, with no SOUL board in sight. Their green SOUL floated to the barrier, and then they saw something on the other side.

A purple SOUL.

They floated towards each other, on opposite sides of the barrier.

***

Sans could see SOULs in more detail than anyone. While everyone could see the dominant color, and guess at the relative power of another’s SOUL, Sans could truly see the detail within. And what he saw in these two SOULs was amazing.   
The kid’s SOUL had been dulled a bit since the chat with Alphys. But now it shone brighter than ever. The bright green shone with streaks of purple deep inside, almost iridescent. This other SOUL, which had appeared seemingly from nowhere, was the exact opposite. Exactly. It was a deep purple, the color of perserverance, with swirling hues of green. The ratios of the main colors was perfectly opposite. And then they did something that most monster SOULs don’t normally do, even after year of partnership. They RESONATED.

 

The resonance was beautiful to behold. The tow SOULS shone with a calm light that was somehow not unbearably bright, despite seeming to cast more light that the lava of Hotlands and the crystals of Waterfall amplified a thousand times over. And then they touched the barrier at the exact same point.

For a moment all was still.

And then between them, the barrier cracked.


	6. Breaking Down

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The monsters are free and the siblings re-united.
> 
> beginning of a new arc. but what are the next steps, for everyone?

The cracks on the barrier spread, giant, glowing lines that bred and soon laced all around the underdark. Monsters everywhere stepped from their homes, staring in wonder. The sound of it cracking was like constant thunder.

Toriel heard it. she ran to the castle.

Papyrus saw it. he took off in search of his brother.

Undyne saw it. she had to report to Asgore.

Alphys heard something. She went to check the basement.

 

Cinnamon watched, eyes wide and unable to move, as the mountain around her shook. In the distance she imagined she could hear rock slides occurring. Before her, the wall fractured, and through those something was glowing. No, shining. She managed to throw her arms above her head as the mountain around her seemed to break apart.

Holy shit, she thought, I’m going to die. I’m going to die before we find Rose. FUCK that.

As the wall in front of her crumbled, that shining something came into view. Like a wall, with thousands of fractures running across it, slowly growing.

And she saw Rose.

And Rose saw Cyn.

Rose ran forward to their sister, putting their hands on the barrier, and on the other side, Cyn pounded on the place that separated them, right beneath the glowing hearts that were currently unimportant. The only thing that mattered to these two was getting to each other. The breaking of the barrier suddenly sped up, the thundering noise amplified a thousand times over, and it happened.

It shattered into millions of glowing pieces that fell like snow, before fading and leaving nothing behind.

The siblings collapsed into each other.

Rose was sobbing. “I didn’t know if I’d ever see you again...”

Cyn was somehow holding it together, clinging their sibling tight to her chest. They had both falled to their knees, curled around each other. “oh Rose, I was so worried, I was so, so, so, worried. Thank God you’re okay, fuck...”

Asgore and Sans looked at each other awkwardly, until Sans shrugged and walked over to the king. “so, your majesty, don’t s’pose you know what just happened either?”

“These two humans... broke the barrier, yes?” Asgore stared at the siblings.

“looks that way.”

Cyn managed to look up and finally take in her surroundings. The heart things were gone; the siblings had been too distracted to see their SOULs return to their bodies. She was in a cavern. Through a doorway she could see a... garden? But more importantly, there was a giant goat creature and a fucking skeleton. In a hoodie.

“Rose,” she whispered, “I need you to get behind me. There should be a tunnel the way I came from, and when I move, I need you to run there.” If the cave in hadn’t blocked the exit.

“Cyn? What do you mean?” despite the question, they moved to follow her orders, recognizing the serious tone her voice.

The older sister slowly stood, still holding Rose, and while doing so turned so that she was between her sibling and these... things. “Now!”

Rose took two steps before realizing, and turned around to stop Cyn from threatening their monster friends.

Cinnamon, meanwhile, had spun around, whipping out her painfully small knife and facing the monsters with as much malice as she could muster, bolstered by the need to protect. Between her and the nearest monster, king Asgore, a SOUL board popped up. In its middle was an inverted white heart. Sans’ eye flared blue.

“Cyn, these are my friends!”

The board disappeared, and the king was somehow more stunned than before. Sans quirked a brow bone. Cyn didn’t turn to face Rose, but she lowered her knife some. “They’re safe?” her voice trembled.

“Yes.” Rose walked between the monsters and their sister, who finally dropped the knife to her side.

“Cool. Cool cool cool.” Cyn’s hands shook as she folded the knife and put it back in her pocket, before falling back to the floor. “Cool,” she repeated. “I so do not have the energy to fight anyone right now.”

Even as she said it, Undyne dashed into the room in full battle armor, followed quickly by Papyrus. Cyn shot to her feet again, but somehow failed this simple task and collapsed again.

“They’re safe! They’re safe!” Rose reassured their sister, kneeling to face her. suddenly they became more worried. Cyn didn’t seem to have much energy. She smelled of sweat and Rose only just noticed the many bleeding cuts and scrapes. “Cinnamon, are you okay?” their voice was quiet with worry.

“Depends on your answer,” Cyn managed to say, their eyes still shifting back to the stunned fish lady and the new skeleton. Sans’ eye was back to normal. “Do you trust any of these guys to protect you?”

“All of them.”

“Cool cool cool.” She repeated the phrase, and then proceeded to lay down on the cold cave floor. “I’m just gonna... be down here then.

“HUMAN! YOU HAVE SUMMONED A CLONE!” Papyrus exclaimed. It was true that the two looked very similar, probably especially so to a monster with limited human experience. Papyrus walked closer to Cyn, who struggled to keep their eyes open. “A VERY DIRTY CLONE! EXCUSE ME, OTHER HUMAN, BUT ARE YOU ALRIGHT?”

“now bro,” Sans walked up, looking somewhat amused, “go easy on ‘em. They have a mountain of new information here.”

Was that a fucking pun? Cyn cracked one eye open to observe the shorter skeleton. Hoodie skeleton. The monsters had some sort of strange accent, but she could still understand most of what they said.

Sans winked at her. “I’m sure theyre trying not to cave under all this pressure.”

“SANS! NOW IS NOT THE TIME FOR PUNS!”

“You think you’re humerus, pal?” Cyn mumbled. Sans’ grin widened. She pushed herself to be somewhat propped on one arm, but didn’t manage to fully sit up. “I’m not gonna take this lying down.”

Papyrus stared, somewhere between amazed and infuriated, and Sans let out a deep belly laugh. “oh my gosh. kid, your sister is great.”

Cyn mumbled something that no one could make out, and Rose squeezed her hand. Next to appear was Toriel, who immediately ran over to Rose and hugged them.

“Oh, my child, I was so worried...” Toriel gave a squeeze and Rose tried to hug her back, but Cinnamon refused to release their hand, so it ended up being a one-armed return hug. “I cannot believe... you broke the barrier. Oh, and who is this?”

Cyn gave a grunt, and was disturbed to see so many strange monster now closely gathered around. “’scuse me,” she mumbled, “gotta go hurl.” She finally released Rose’s hand and crawled away. She didn’t get far before she did indeed begin vomiting all over the cave floor. The other monsters looked away, either in embarrassment or disgust.

“Can we get her some water?” Rose looked at everyone pleadingly.

“On it.” Undyne rushed out of the room, grateful for an excuse to leave the awkward cave.

Toriel stared accusingly at Asgore, who looked sheepishly back. “I’m sure she must have a lot to take in. maybe we should allow these children some rest and discuss what just happened.”

Rose nodded and Cyn gave a thumbs up.

And so it was that the siblings were given water, and a cinnabunny that Cyn couldn’t bring herself to eat quite yet, and were led to a room in the castle to rest. Rose was surprised by how tired they were as well, and soon the humans found themselves asleep on twin beds across the room from each other.

 

“So,” the monsters were seated around a table, and Toriel had almost immediately taken charge. “What exactly happened?”

Asgore tried to answer first. “Well, the child came to me to... well, they touched the barrier, and then... their SOUL came out?”

“But a single human SOUL could not possibly break the barrier,” Toriel all but snapped. She worked to regain her composure before continuing. “So what did cause it to shatter?”

“the SOULs resonated.” Now it was Sans who spoke up, and everyone turned to him. “Strongest resonance I’ve ever seen. Each of them were on different sides of the barrier, and the RESONANCE somehow was strong enough to break it.”

“But that’s impossible,” Asgore said. “that’s not how RESONANCE works. It can lead you to someone, maybe, and certainly cause SOULs to strengthen dramatically, but the barrier...”

“well, have you ever seen human SOULs RESONATE? Maybe they have different effects than monster SOULs.” Sans shrugged. “it was certainly something special to watch.”

“Argh! I don’t get any of this.” Undyne crossed her arms. “What does it matter how it happened? The barrier is down! We need to tell everyone! ... well, I guess most of them have already seen it, but!”

“I AGREE! LET US GO TO THE SURFACE IMMEDIATELY AND INTRODUCE OURSELVES!” Papyrus moved to stand, but sat again at Sans’ request.

The doors burst open, and Alphys came through. “Ah! I-i-i-I’m so s-sorry I’m! um... late?” she looked around at the tense faces, and quietly took her seat. “I-I g-g-g-guess we g-g-got the last S-S-S-S-SS-SOUL?”

“Not exactly.” Toriel shot another disapproving glare at Asgore, who wilted under her gaze. Alphys tried to hide her shock at seeing the queen returned. “You are the new royal scientist, yes? What do you know about SOUL RESONANCE, especially with humans?”

“N-n-not much. Why?”

Toriel sighed. “well then, I suppose...” she gestured to Undyne, who gave her name. “I suppose Undyne here is right. We’ll put this matter aside and focus on how to proceed to the surface. It is yet unclear how much has changed in all this time.”

“actually, uh, your majesty, I have one more thing I want to address before we move on.” All eyes were on Sans. “so, actually, when this new human, the sister, showed up... she summoned a SOUL board. On Asgore’s SOUL.”

There was silence.


	7. Kindness and Perseverance become Temperance

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The siblings balance each other out.

Cinnamon woke up, emotionally drained. And sweaty. Uncomfortably sweaty. With a start, she remembered the events of the day before and glanced around hurriedly. She was relieved to see Rose in the bed across the room. Less relieved to find hoodie skeleton in the dark room, staring at her. had he been there a second ago? She stared at him, unsure what else to do. 

He looked uncomfortably to the side. “mornin’ kid.”

“Morning.”

“you’re, um, taking all this really well.”

She shrugged. “I guess I’m too tired to panic or anything?”

“could be. Could also be that you’ve seen monsters or magic before.”

“I don’t think I have.” She was suspicious now. Something about the way he said it sounded... accusatory.

“ya sure?”

“I think I’d remember.”

Sans shrugged. “well, when you come out Asgore and Tori are making breakfast. Betcha they could help you clean up too.”

Cyn guiltily looked at the blood she had gotten on the sheets. “... Thanks. Oh, my name is Cinnamon, by the way.”

“Sans. Sans the skeleton.” He walked out the door and Cyn went back to sleep.

***

“Doctor Alphys, please ensure that the castle elevators are shut down for now. We do not want a flood of monsters trying to get out.” Toriel is going over what she has missed in her absence.

“But Tori,” Asgore tries, “should we not allow them to see the outside at last?”

“First, you must make a formal announcement, to make sure they know what is going on. We also need to make sure your more... militant remarks are reneged, so that we do not have vengeful monsters causing trouble before we even announce our presence to the world.”

Asgore hunched his shoulders, trying and failing to appear small. “Why must I do it?”

“You are the king. I left ages ago, and they currently respect YOU,” her voice held something very akin to disdain, “as the ruler. Worry not, I will tell you what to say.” He eagerly nodded. “We should announce as soon as possible. Undyne and Papyrus are currently gathering everyone to New Home for your speech. After that, we should talk to the humans as soon as they awake.”

When the human siblings arrived, they were given pie and tea for breakfast, which they both dug into.

“Rose, we need to talk about what to tell mom and dad.” Cyn didn’t notice Toriel stiffen behind her. “My phone died, but we should charge it and tell them we’re all right. ... I kind of haven’t been home in a couple days either. But I told them I was staying at a friends place.”

Rose raised an eyebrow. “They bought that?”

“Doubt it, but hopefully it’s enough to keep them from calling the cops.”

“I don’t want to go home.”

Cyn stopped eating, numbness suddenly spreading through her body. “What... do you mean?”

“I... want to stay with Toriel.” The goat monster walked behind Rose and put a furry hand on their shoulder. “But! Only if you can stay too!” Cyn glanced at Toriel, trying to hide her fear.

Toriel was aware it might take some getting used to, bit immediately approved. “Of course you may both stay! I would love to have you. Actually, Rose,” she turned to the child. “Would you... be willing to be an ambassador between humans and monsters?”

“Do you really think I could do that?” Rose stared wide eyed.

“I think only you could, my child.”

“Then yes!”

Cyn smiled at the joy on their sibling’s face. Rose seemed so... content. Maybe even healthier than they were before all this. And they were already surpassing their older sister. So many friends, and becoming an ambassador? She was so proud. But what was going to be her place in all this? “Rose, what are we going to tell our parents?”

“... Do we have to tell them anything?”

She heaved a sigh that spoke of someone much older than eighteen. “Yeah. My suggestion would be that I found you, and that we’ll be staying somewhere else. But I’m gonna ask you to see them before we do all this. We could even pick up things from the house.”

There was a heavy silence as Toriel picked up the dishes and shoved them at Asgore. She didn’t really understand what was going on, but if Rose chose Toriel over their own parents, there must be problems at home. The siblings kept exchanging glances that held whole conversations.

Finally, Cyn gave in. “all right, but I’m still telling them I found you and I’m sending a picture.”

“Children,” Toriel spoke up, not wanting to interrupt. “I apologize, but Asgore and I must prepare to speak to the underground. If you like, you can go clean up. There might be clothes in the room you slept in that would fit you. Feel free to change into them. The bathroom is over that way.”

***

Cyn went back to the room and opened up their bag and dug through it. the phone was definitely dead, but maybe there was somewhere the charger could plug in? apparently not in this room. She kept digging through. Why had she not packed a change of clothes? That should’ve been on the list. She looked through the closets with Rose, and they both found some things that fit Rose, but all the shirts looked like crop tops on Cyn. She decided to deal with it. she felt filthy. And, in all honesty, she was still covered in blood and grime. She got to use the bathroom first and was pleasantly surprised at the availability of a hot shower. The water warmed up and she began undressing, when she noticed something. She touched her pockets again just to check.

She didn’t have her knife.

***

Rose was happily surprised to find Alphys while Cyn was in the shower.

“Alphys!”

The doctor practically yipped and desperately looked for a way out.

“Wait, please!” the monster slowed her steps, but refused to look Rose in the eye. They understood. “It’s okay. Everything turned out fine, right?”

“Y-y-y-yeah, somehow... but I still.... um, lied to you and...”

Rose enveloped their friend in a tight hug. “you’re still my friend.”

“oh stars, I’m so s-s-s-sorry Rose, I’m s-s-s-soooo s-s-sorryyyyyyyy...” she sobbed into Rose’s shoulder, and the human pat their back affectionately until she was done crying.

“Actually, I wanted to ask you something?”

“Yeah! Anything!”

Rose held out Cyn’s phone and charger. “Do you know of a way we can charge Cyn’s phone so we can contact... someone outside? Normally we just plug this part into electricity...”

“Oh! Th-that’s easy.” Alphys plugged the phone into the charger and held the plug. Her hands lit up yellow, and the phone came to life.

“Whoa... I didn’t know you could do that!”

Alphys blushed, but seemed proud of herself. “I’m actually pretty good at turning magic into electricity, if it’s little things like that.”

“That was a huge help! Oh gosh! When we get our things from the surface, we should play video games together!”

“Th-that sounds really cool!” Alphys was getting excited despite herself.

***

Missing her knife made Cinnamon really uncomfortable. Even if these monsters were friendly, it was a safety thing. And also... a stress relief. The hot water spilled over all the cuts and bruises she had gotten on the mountain, but what she was staring at now were the neat parallel lines on her arm. Rose would notice, especially with only short sleeved shirts available. But honestly, she was more worried about what all these monsters would think. They seemed to adore Rose, which was understandable since Rose was amazing and arguably the perfect human being, but what would they think of her? some unstable human trying to take Rose away?

And this thing with Toriel. Even if she was welcomed into the house, she knew it wouldn’t be that easy. For one, this Toriel didn’t know her and so probably wouldn’t trust her. what would that be like, living in a house with someone you don’t even know? Could she bring some of her things from her old life? And speaking of her old life...

Their parents. They weren’t bad people. But Cyn was jumping at this chance to live elsewhere for a reason. But if she went to pick up her things... would she be able to leave? She knew that’s why rose didn’t want to see them yet. If they met with their parents, they would be afraid to leave. And their parents would pull out every piece of blackmail, every type of emotional manipulation, to keep them there. Especially after all this.

Well, they’d just figure it out. The most important thing was that they were together. They were adaptable kids. They could do anything if they had each other.

As Cyn stepped out of the bathroom, she felt cold. Her tummy showed under the child-sized shirt, and the short pants were a tight fit. She looked ridiculous, but her other clothes were not well off. Rose met her outside the room they had used, and handed her her phone. She took it and took a selfie of both of them to send to their parents, who had apparently left 7 voicemails and 32 text messages. As Rose went into the bathroom, Cyn scrolled through the messages. She appeared to have decent reception for being in a mountain. That was weird. After sending that one message, she checked the old texts for anything important. Mostly just her parents telling her to come home and giving ultimatums that they hopefully would not deliver on. There would definitely be issues getting things from that house.

She went into the room and searched through her things for her knife. That was one tool she did not want to misplace. That thing had seen her through a lot. But it wasn’t in her bag, or her jacket, or her other pockets, or with Rose’s things... the room was quickly becoming a mess.

“hey pal. Looking for this?” Cinnamon spun around to see Sans holding her knife, blade out and pointing at her. she narrowed her eyes. “so, why did you bring this here?”

Her eyes flicked to the blade and back to Sans narrowed eye lights. “I was searching some dangerous places. Girl needs protection.”

“well you’re safe here, so you mind if I hold onto it?”

“I kind of want it back.”

“it may not seem very knife of me, but I’m afraid that’s not an option right now.” He folded the blade away and put it in his pocket. “ya see, a little thing like this could do a lot of damage here. So until we know you better, it would make everyone feel a lot safer if you were unarmed.”

Cyn felt very vulnerable in that moment. “Well, looks like I don’t have a choice now, does it?”

“s’pose not.”

“Since you were honest with me, I’m gonna be honest with you. I’m not a fan of feeling defenseless, but if you, or anyone down here, hurts Rose, I won’t just stand by and watch.”

“sounds fair. Um.” Sans looked her over again. “that’s an... interesting look you got there.”

Cyn glanced down at her clothes in embarrassment. The shirt and pants clashed badly, the pants barely fit, and the shirt left her belly fully exposed. But they had been the only things that fit. “it’s all I could find!”

Sans walked away, chuckling. But beyond the scrapes that were obviously accidents from the day before, he had seen what was on her arm. Was it bad that it made him feel a little safer?

***

Rose’s turn under the shower was much shorter, having less dirt and no blood to clean off. They wondered, though. Without Cyn asking, would they have even told their parents they were still alive? Maybe, eventually. But it would be so much easier to start over fresh. They felt safe with Toriel. Not pressured or oppressed. But they could see how things might have ended up harder, if they suddenly became an ambassador for monsters and then their parents had claimed a kidnapping or something. This way, at least, the siblings could figure out a plan.

It was nice to have Cyn back.


	8. Coming Out of my Cage

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everyone gets out

Toriel thought the announcement went well. They would set up an area outside for monsters to see the surface through either the opening in the Ruins or here at the castle, but keep everyone close. Rose would take a monster representative to meet with someone who had authority, and they could work out moving monsters to the surface. The boss monsters of the underground were gathered at a table together with the humans.

“Who exactly are we taking Toriel to?” Cyn asked.

“I was thinking the mayor? And work our way to the president as fast as possible.” Rose scrunched up their face. “politics. Bleh.”

“We’ll have to be careful to protect Toriel from scared people, and watch out for... how politicians can be.” Cyn was suddenly struck by an idea. “How about a backup plan?”

Undyne nodded eagerly. “A good warrior always keeps a back up plan.”

“Maybe we could, while Toriel is trying to meet someone higher up, broadcast the existence of monsters? Over the internet or TV or something? That way even if something happens, people will still know that Mt. Ebbot has you all living in it. it could be like a mini history lesson on monsters? Asgore could do it with Mettaton or someone.”

“That sounds like a good plan. Doctor Alphys, if you would, could you do this?” Toriel turned to the lizard monster.

“Y-y-yes! It m-m-m-might be easier if I could, um, borrow that phone from earlier? That way I could make sure of some things...” She kept glancing up at Rose, who got Cyn’s phone from her and slid it over the table.

“WOWEE! THAT’S WAY SMALLER THAN MY PHONE!” Papyrus stared at it.

Alphys fumbled with the touchscreen for a bit, but eventually figured it out, with some direction from the humans. As she began taking notes right there, Sans spoke up.

“so, where we going?” his hands were shoved in his pockets, and he looked between the humans for an answer.

“Um, why are you coming? What’s your job again?” For some reason, well, many reasons actually, including the theft of her knife, Sans made Cyn a little uncomfortable.

“I’m good at getting people where they need to be.” He winked at Rose.

“We can just use my car?” Cyn suggested. “it should still be parked at the dump. I don’t think there were any tow signs.”

“Actually,” Asgore spoke at last, “I would feel much safer if Sans went with you.”

“SIR, I THINK UNDYNE OR I WOULD MAKE MUCH BETTER GUARDS!” Papyrus spoke up, thumping his chest(?) proudly.

“I would also be more comfortable with Sans,” Toriel countered.

“Would they fit in the car?” Rose spoke up. “I mean, it might be a tight fit.”

“then let’s get goin’.” Sans stood up and everyone else followed suit.


	9. First Impressions

Sans met Alphys in her lab. She was trying to prepare the broadcast to go out at about the same time that the group went to the country’s capitol. Meanwhile, the royal guard was escorting groups out to see the surface for short periods of time, with promises for more to come as soon as possible. Papyrus was finally a royal guardsman, by order of the king.

“hey, Alphys, I wanted to talk to you about a few things.”

She visibly jumped. “Y-y-yes?”

“first of all, I wanna fill you in on what happened to the barrier.”

***

Monsters meeting humans... had gone better than expected. No one had gotten hurt. The one time that bullets had been fired by a panicked guard, Sans had somehow stopped it before it hit anyone. Even the broadcast went well. It wasn’t long before the government was setting bounds around the mountain, but at least the monsters were able to come out, with a date set for further negotiations about land ownership soon. One interesting thing was, Toriel didn’t speak the language. She spoke monster. Rose didn’t seem surprised, and ended up doing a lot of the translating. Cinnamon, however, kept thinking about it. magic somehow made her and Rose able to understand and speak monster language? The few times he talked, people seemed to understand Sans. So he spoke the common language? She filed those questions away for later.

Cyn felt like a third wheel the whole time. Well, fourth wheel really. But she did her best to interject only when Rose asked for advice. Appearing to have internal conflict would be disastrous. And anyway, Cyn had little interest in politics. Hated them, in fact. They had only come to watch over Rose, still unwilling to go far from them for the time being.

And now they were simply sitting at the edge of a cliff together, holding hands and swinging their legs. Cyn knew she should be feeling even more exhausted than the day before, but instead she felt... stronger. Whole. Not even stressed, really. It was downright unnerving. Rose was feeling similarly. They had trouble with social situations, and yet even after all the political talk, they didn’t feel the exhaustion that would normally be tugging at them. They felt more solid and sure then they could ever remember. The siblings sat their in their respective confusions, watching the sun set. Monsters were outside and all around them, doing the same thing. Every now and then someone would come up to talk to Rose, thanking them or catching up. Rose would often introduce them to Cinnamon, who would pleasantly greet them and marvel at the variety of monsters living below ground. The original fear Cyn had held was all but gone. They all just seemed so genuine and kind.

Rose wondered if their parents had seen the news yet. No official pictures had been taken, but it was likely that some passer by had snapped a pic of the strange crew on their way in or out of buildings. And the names were public knowledge. Would their parents connect the dots? Would they try to take Rose back?

“Hey Cyn? I’m gonna go find Sans.” Rose disentangled their hands and stood up, but Cyn followed right behind.

“I’ll come with.”

Rose was already getting a little tired of the constant company. Well, no, not tired. Just worried. How long until Cyn backed off? It wasn’t a big deal now, but eventually Rose would need some alone time and all that. But it must have been awful, not knowing where Rose had been. Desperately searching, from what the sister had shared. Rose supposed they would be the same way, had things been flipped.

Eventually, after asking around, they found Sans. Selling hot dogs. Cyn didn’t bother trying not to stare, but Rose just smiled at the familiar hot dog cart, now outside as the stars were setting. Plenty of monsters were in the area, eating the hot dogs and staring at the stars. “Sans! Can I ask you something?”

“you just did, kiddo.”

Rose rolled their eyes, but they were smiling. “you think you could do me-us, really,” they glanced at their sister, who was now confused, “a favor?”

Sans shrugged in an easy-going manner. “depends on what it is you want.”

“Maybe you could use your shortcuts to help us get some of our things from home without our... parents noticing?” Rose felt a little bad asking for such a small thing, but it would mean the world to not have to see their parents. Cyn sent a knowing glance their way, nodding in agreement.

Sans could see a small resonance occur with the look the siblings gave each other. In a way, he was jealous. How could they be so in tune? “well kid, I’d love to help, but I can’t go someplace I’ve never seen. You got a picture of exactly where you wanna go?”

At this Rose looked downcast. Cyn stepped in. “I might have a picture of one of our rooms on my phone.” She pulled out the phone that Alphys has returned. It was on silent, and she quickly ignored the piled up inbox in favor of scrolling through images. “Maybe if I don’t have one, we could go to the house and maybe you could teleport to a room you could see through a window?”

This kid wasn’t half bad. “I might be able to do that, yeah.”

Finding no suitable pictures, Cyn cursed and looked for pictures of the house instead. “Okay, I’m gonna have to ask you something... Sans.”

He raised a curious brow bone.

“If we hear my parents coming, I’ll try to distract them. If they start questioning the noise I’ll try to block them, but if the door starts to open, just get Rose out.”

“are you... really that scared of your parents?” Sans had never heard Rose talk about their parents, only a couple times about Cyn.

“I wouldn’t say scared, but...” Cyn looked away with some guilt on her face. Guilt? Why? “But if you end up leaving without me, I’d really appreciate it if you could get me later?” the last part was said with such uncertainty and hope... Cyn really hoped she didn’t sound too pathetic. “If I get stuck, I’ll stay in Rose’s room that night, and you could get me in like an hour or something?”

“sure.” Sans’ face was unreadable. “so, we doin’ this now?”

 

The only open window was to their dad’s study. Luckily, they could see that it was empty before they teleported in, meaning that their parents were probably downstairs. Sans had rolled his eyes when Cyn asked if he could sense where they were with his magic, but they could hear a movie playing downstairs. So the group quietly walked to the siblings’ rooms. Sans went into Rose’s room with them, carefully shutting the door behind them.

Cyn went into her room, leaving the door open to more easily catch what her parents were doing. She quickly began shoving things into a large backpack.

Think, think, what could also maybe be useful? The laptop went in first, followed by a couple notebooks. Some video games followed. Medicine. Some things were already in the backpack from before, and soon the last thing left to pack was clothes. Underwear, check. Pants, check. Shirts...

She stubbed her toe on the bed. Loudly.

The sound of the TV cut off.

Then Sans was there. He practically scooped Cinnamon off the ground, displaying surprising strength for having no visible muscle, and then they left.

“Cinnamon?” their father’s voice called out at he walked up the stairs. “...Rose?”

***

Cinnamon was busy having a panic attack, thank you very much.

“hey, kid, you good?” Sans didn’t really know what to do.

Cinnamon didn’t speak. Couldn’t. that was how her attacks manifested. Bouts of being non-verbal, and non responsive in many forms. She managed to put up a thumbs up, which seemed to satisfy Sans. Rose was having none of it. they knew the signs.

“Hey, you’re having an attack, right?” they crouched next to their sister, who nodded. “is there anything I can do to help?” another nod. “hugs?” confirmed. Rose wrapped their big sister in a warm and gentle embrace, as Sans stood awkwardly to the side.

Sans had maybe panicked?

There were a few downsides to being able to see SOULs in the detail that he did. The biggest was that if he wasn’t careful, he constantly felt that he was invading someone’s privacy. But in this case, it seemed that seeing the raw panic in Rose’s SOUL had sent his protective instincts into overdrive. It didn’t help that the panic RESONATED in Cinnamon’s SOUL, giving him a double dose of the shit that threatened to overwhelm him. That RESONANCE with these two was so strong it practically pushed their feelings onto the SOULs around them. He’d have to be careful when he was around these two. This had never happened when it was just Rose. It hadn’t been bad at first. After the barrier broke and the humans went to rest, the few times they resonated was with a sense a peace. A sense of wholeness that Sans hadn’t felt in a long time. It made him want to stay near their room, just to share in that feeling for as long as he could. But whatever those parents did to make their kids feel that kind of synchronized fear... made Sans very, very, angry.

Finally, Cyn calmed down enough to walk with Rose back to their room. As they walked, Rose glanced at their sister. “Hey, Cyn? While I was gone... did something happen?”

“You mean besides the obvious?” Cyn shrugged. “Not really. Nothing different anyway.”

Rose didn’t push. “Alright.”


	10. Assumptions, Theories, Plans

Cinnamon had always had a tendency towards nightmares. She could never figure out why, exactly, but they happened with alarming frequency. And vividness. And when she woke up, she had to stay up, because they started right up again if she went back to sleep. Unless she had a proper distraction. Still wearing one of the too-small shirts from the borrowed room, but finally able to wear fitting pants, she did her best to quietly put a couple things in her purse: a Nintendo DS and the charger. She knew Rose had somehow charged her phone, so Cyn figured if she wandered around enough she could find an outlet.

She was wandering through a room full of golden pillars now, still finding nothing.

“boo.”

She jumped a bit and turned around. Sans was standing there, looking as casual as anything.

“midnight stroll?”

“Looking for electricity,” Cyn answered cautiously. “Wanted to play some games.”

“well, I don’t think you’ll find any compatible plugs,” he said, walking up. “couldn’t sleep?”

“Nightmares.”

“sorry pal. I know how rough those can be.”

She made a noise that sounded like she didn’t quite believe him.

“what, don’t you think monsters get nightmares?”

“That’s not it. I just... my dreams are... vivid.” She pulled the charge cord out, showing the plug to Sans.

“yeah, we don’t have anything that’ll fit into. So you think no one else has vivid nightmares?”

He seemed to be pretty interested in dreams. Maybe it was a monster culture thing. Cyn shrugged. “Well, my dreams are almost all vivid. I see, feel, hear, smell, taste... dream death is always fun that way.”

“you feel what dying is like?”

“No way to know for sure, right? I can only imagine that its accurate. Depends on how I die, but usually it’s the pain of whatever wound, eventually replaced by adrenaline and then... numbness. But again, it varies.”

“was that the kind of dream you had tonight?” In the dark, Cyn didn’t see the sweat beading on his bony brow.

“Yeah. Dreamt I got stabbed. After Rose did first.”

“... you should just go back to bed kid.”

She shrugged again. “I guess after a walk hopefully it won’t come back tonight.”

“yeah. You do that.” And then he was gone.

Cyn was disappointed about the outlets, but returned to the room. Unfortunately, this dream came back, more vivid than ever.

***

Undyne found Asgore in the tomb. Torturing himself again.

“Hey! King fluffybuns! You need to get some rest. There’s more stuff to do tomorrow. We’re not nearly over with these negotiations.”

“Toriel will take care of it. She’s always been better at such things, anyway.” He put a hand on one of the many small coffins in the room. Each of them had a golden flower carefully laid on top. “What was all this for?”

Undyne shifted uncomfortably. “... I saw that the SOULs are still there. In their cases. What actually broke the barrier?”

He heaved a giant sigh that bespoke of centuries of grief. “We’re still unsure. Sans seems to believe it has to do with the resonance of those two children’s SOULs on opposite sides of the barrier.”

“How could that possibly be strong enough?!”

“I do not know.” He sighed again. “All this death... innocents killed for nothing. What kind of a ruler am I, truly?”

“I think you’re not bad,” Undyne looked off into the distance. “You did what had to be done. You made sure everyone still had hope. It’s what was needed at the time. And anyway! It’s in the past and we should just be looking to the future now! Grateful for what we have and all that.”

Asgore gave a sad smile, but was visibly encouraged. “Thank you, Captain. I think I shall return to bed. I appreciate you keeping watch during this time.”

“Heh. A true warrior can go days without sleep, when necessary!” she pounded her breastplate proudly, and they left the room together.”

***

The next days went by in a flurry of activity. There were communications between the monsters and rulers of various countries, especially those in the Coalition. It seemed that a large section of mountain was going to be given to the monsters for the time being, and there was already progress in currency exchange and a number of other things.

Rose found themselves very busy, going to meetings and having phone and video calls with Toriel and Asgore often. It was tiring. But mostly, it was exciting. Their friends were getting out. They were getting to see the sun. seeing monsters looking at the sun, or the real stars, for the first time made it all seem trivial.

“hey kiddo, can I talk to you for a sec?” in between meetings, Rose turned to face Sans. “I got a couple questions. About, uh, you and your sister.”

“Yeah, sure.” They walked to some out-of-the-way corner. “Is something wrong?”

Sans chuckled. “not really. Some of these might sound like weird questions, but, have you uh, had any nightmares recently?”

“Not really.” They tilted their head in confusion. “Why?”

“no reason. Another is, well, does your sister know any magic?”

Rose laughed at that one. “What? No. she might know a couple rope or card tricks? These are kind of weird questions.”

“its nothin’, really. Just... curious. Hey, why don’t we go to Grillby’s later? Invite your sister.”

“Okay.”

***

Cinnamon had not explored the underground much. While rose had been constantly busy, Cyn was constantly... not. She knew she couldn’t tag along to every meeting, but it still left her antsy when Rose was gone. Her only relief the past few days had been anime and video games with Alphys, who was a nerd after her own heart.

But she did want to see the Underground. So when Rose said they were getting dinner at a restaurant underground. Unfortunately, not only was Sans coming, but this area of the underground was cold. Very very cold. And all Cyn had were crop tops. Even inside the cosy bar, Cinnamon shivered.

“heh, anyone order a cinnamon shake?” Sans jokes, earning a glare.

“You pulled us out too fast. Ten more seconds and I could have grabbed some shirts, maybe even a jacket.” Cinnamon stuck her tongue out, trying to show that she wasn’t really mad about it. she was certainly grateful they weren’t caught. But damn, was it cold.

Rose, always resistant to the elements, had not brought a jacket. But they looked pointedly at Sans. “fine,” he said. “here. Use mine.” He tossed his jacket over to Cinnamon just as their burgers came out. She considered arguing, but decided against it. they all dug in.

“Damn, it has been too long since I’ve had some good comfort food,” Cyn moaned in pleasure. Grillby, some kind of fire monster, crackled happily. “Seriously, this has to be the best burger I’ve ever had,” Cinnamon continues, practically inhaling the food. When she looks up, Grillby has placed a milkshake in front of her. she looks up, the question in her eyes.

“looks like he really appreciated your compliments,” Sans winks. “he said it’s on the house.”

She looked to the owner. “Seriously?” he nodded. “Thank you! Really! Wow... well, this is pretty big. Rose, wanna share?”

“Definitely!”

They shared a little small talk, before Cyn spoke up. “Actually, Sans...” he glanced over. “So, monsters have their own language?”

“yup. But quite a few of us picked up your language. ‘cuz of garbage and stuff that fell down.”

“How come Rose and I can understand?”

He shrugged at that. “something to do with all the concentrated magic in the underground? Probably.” They lapsed back into chit chat, but Sans kept looking over at the two. Trying to confirm suspicions that he had had for a while now. He was piecing together how the barrier had been broken. He might have to distance himself from these two.

They were leaving Grillby’s, walking back towards New Home, when Papyrus came running up.

“hey bro, what’s wrong?” Sans looked over his brother, who was showing all the signs of panic.

“WE, AH, HAVE A, PROBLEM.” Papyrus wrung his hands nervously. “MAY I TALK TO YOU IN, UM, PRIVATE?”

“sure. Gimme a sec, you two?” the siblings nodded, and Papyrus took him a few feet away. Not really out of earshot.

“Um, well,” if Paps was lowering his voice, it had to be important. “The... the SOULs. From, well... Are missing.”

Oh.


	11. Weeds in Eden

“trouble. You guys can get back on your own, right? Cool.” Sans teleported away, leaving the humans and Paps behind. When he arrived in the chamber where the SOULs were normally kept, Undyne was already there, stomping around, and Asgore was kneeled on the floor around the broken casings. “what happened?” Sans was out of breath and sweating, more a sign of nerves than exhaustion at this point.

“I don’t know...” Asgore seemed out of it. “I don’t know how anyone even found this place, let alone got in and... the cases were supposed to be near impossible to break...”

“I sent out the guards to see if anyone had undergone any... changes. There’s so few of us, I’m sure we’ll find the culprits soon. Gah! I hate waiting though!” Undyne paced furiously.

“I had hoped to talk to Toriel about giving them a proper burial, to let them... fade in peace. I should have done so sooner...” Asgore was crying.

Sans’ mind was working furiously, debating theories, coming up with plans, none of which seemed good enough, remembering possibilities... Damn. If word got out of what this could mean, monster human relations would break down before they even began. 

“Ugh! I’m going to find Alphys. Maybe she has an idea on how to make this faster.”

Maybe Alphys could help him fix this. If nothing else her notes would be helpful. But he needed to move fast. Where to look? The barrier was open; but start in the underground?

He needed to find that damn flower.

***

“Golly, it’s been a while!”

Papyrus had run off, and the human siblings had been walking through a particularly empty part of Waterfall when Flowey appeared. Rose stared blankly. “Flowey? What are you doing here?” the last time they met, Rose had narrowly avoided death.

“I just wanted to thank you ever so much for breaking the barrier!” he chirped. “And I wanted to apologize for my rude behavior last time! So who’s this?”

“This is my sister, Cinnamon,” Rose answered cautiously. “She helped me break the barrier.”

“Wowie! Ya know, I didn’t think your SOUL was anything special, but seeing you together, maybe I was wrong!”

Rose began backing away from the flower, looking around for anyone that could help them. “Cyn, we should get going.” Cinnamon was not blind to the atmosphere, and was already moving to stand between their sibling and this flower.

“Hey now!” it was barely noticeable, but something sinister snuck its way onto Flowey’s face. “Why don’t you let SIN here get to know me! We’ve never met before.”

Cyn nudged Rose to move a little faster, taking another step towards the flower. “That’s true. It’s nice to meet you.” She tried to stay casual. If nothing else, she could buy Rose some time to get out. They knew their way around, they could bring help if they got away. This would have been a good time to have a knife.

“Hey, it’s rude to leave when someone is talking to you!” a vine erupted from the earth to wrap around Rose’s ankle. “And I went to all this trouble to see you both privately, you HUMAN PIECES OF GARBAGE!”

Rose tried to stomp on the vines to get them to let go, but more came crawling out to grab at both humans, twisting around their legs. Cyn did the only thing she knew how to do: put herself in the line of fire instead. She struggled with the vines and tried to run at the flower, who just laughed at her as the thorns of the vines dug in deep. She barely took notice of the pain.

“None of these SOULs fit quite right, but maybe one of yours will do? Or both?” he kept cackling, his face now fully distorted into something ugly and frightening.

Until a SOUL board popped up.

Flowey stopped laughing.

In the middle of a white box, there sat six SOULs, bound to that 2-d plane. Cyan, orange, blue, purple, yellow, green.

“What the FUCK is this?” Flowey’s face betrayed his fear, and the grip of the vines slackened. Rose dashed away, but Cyn found she couldn’t move. “What did you DO!?” he appeared to be struggling, and all but one of the colored hearts disappeared, leaving only Cyan. He made the same face, as if fighting some internal battle, and the color shifted to orange. Then blue. Then rapidly shifting between the colors from before.

Cyn had no idea what was going on, but she felt, somewhere deep within her, that she was the cause of this. So she put all of her willpower into keeping whatever this was up, at least long enough for Rose to get help. She could already hear them screaming for help in the distance.

Flowey had stopped struggling, and was staring at Cyn with suspicion. “Well?”

“Well what?” she tried to answer easily, but when she spoke the white box flickered. She focused harder.

“Well, take your turn!” the flower’s face was changing. He was starting to realize that she had no idea what she was doing. She opted not to reply. And then Flowey was gone. Vanished into the earth.

Cyn’s legs were wobbly, and her mind felt burned out. She managed to run off in the direction that Rose had gone, and eventually caught up to them, telling Papyrus what had happened. He looked frazzled, to say the least.

“SISTER HUMAN! ARE YOU ALRIGHT?!” He ran and swooped her into a hug, despite them never really interacting much before. “WE WERE BOTH VERY WORRIED! I AM SORRY FOR LEAVING YOU TWO!”

“Um, it’s alright Papyrus,” Cyn tried to calm him down, nervous that her feet weren’t on solid ground. “I’m fine. But, um, confused? What was that?”

“ROSE CLAIMS THAT YOU SUMMONED A SOUL BOARD! I TOLD THEM THEY WERE BEING SILLY, SINCE ONLY MONSTERS CAN DO THAT!”

“Only monsters, huh...” Cyn glanced nervously at Rose as Papyrus gently released her. Rose looked just as confused. “Should we, uh, warn someone? About Flowey?”

“I really think we should,” Rose spoke up. “he’s more dangerous than he seems, and... he had SOULs.” Rose could only think back to the human SOULs that Asgore had shown. Theirs was going to be the last. But a monster with a human SOUL? That was supposed to be really powerful, right? They had to tell Asgore. Or Toriel.

The group safely made it back to the castle.

The whole time, they didn’t feel themselves being watched.


	12. Soul to Heart

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cinnamon and Sans get to know each other a little better.

Sans was on the hunt.

He was going everywhere he could think, all the places he was used to seeing the flower. That reset-happy bastard. He went to the ruins, the garden, all the little patches of grass he was used to Flowey popping up in. but nobody came.

Eventually, cursing to himself, he returned to New Home, figuring Flowey must be on the surface now. Which was very, very, bad. He stopped outside the castle. Cyn was in the corner, hunched over something.

“avoiding work?” she jumped at Sans’ voice. “I guess you could say you’re doing the cinnaminimal amount-“ his joke stopped when he saw her legs. Her jeans were rolled up to the knee, but they had cuts in them even farther up than that. But the ones on her calves looked pretty bad. Her legs were red from wiped away blood; it seemed that she kept wiping the blood away instead of letting it scab. Many of the cuts were dripping.

“Shit.” She glared at Sans.

“kid, what the hell happened? Did you...”

She could hear the accusation in his voice and cut him off. “No. Rose and I were attacked. They were farther away, so their scrapes are smaller. I’m just waiting for the bleeding to stop so it doesn’t leak through and stain my pants.”

“who attacked you?” She told him the story. The flower, the vines, the white box that freaked the other monster out so much that they left... he stood still, listening to it all. She kept wiping away blood, and didn’t see the dark void where his eye lights had gone out. “so... this flower... it was after your SOULs?”

“That’s what it said.” She licked her thumb and tried to clean up some of the blood staining her leg.

Sans filed this new information away. “geez kid, does it not bother you that your legs are covered in dried blood? Can humans even lose that much blood safely?”

“it’s fine. Just annoying.” She didn’t say that the sight of blood had become cathartic. “you know, I might’ve been able to protect us better if I had my knife.”

“here, take this.” He handed her some monster chocolate. “it’ll make the healing go faster. Might make you feel better too, it being SOUL food. Then you can go wash that off or something before someone sees it? Might freak out your sibling.” Or Paps.

She gratefully ate the chocolate, and the effect was almost instant. The shallow cuts closed up, and the deeper ones stopped bleeding and faded somewhat. “Wow. That was fast.” She also felt... calm. The stress and fear that had built up during the episode was fading. She didn’t realize how close she had been to a panic attack until it faded away. “I should start keeping some of that stuff on hand.”

“or you could stop misusing your... tools.” He expected her to fight him, but instead she just sighed.

“I know. It’s just... hard. I don’t know what Rose has told you about home, but... and now it’s a habit, and you know how those can be.”

“... you wanna talk about it.”

She desperately did. “Sure, if you’re willing to listen.”

And he was.

So she told him, holding nothing back. It had been so long since she’d opened up to anyone but Rose, and even then she’d had to censor some things. She talked about never feeling like their parent’s first priority. About constantly feeling judged, and not accepted. Nothing you both did was ever good enough for them. Their parents loved them both, Cyn knew that, but they didn’t respect their children. She kept going for a long time. Until it was all out.

While she spoke, Cyn had been absently fiddling with the new holes in her pants, and pulled the jeans back down to hide her legs. She absently thanked him and waited for some kind of response.

“wow. Uh, that’s a lot.” He awkwardly patted her back. She longed to just be held by someone, anyone, but she had already dumped a lot on him, so refrained. “so... that also explains a lot. Your SOULs resonate so well because you were always together, facing the same struggles. And you naturally grew to complement each other. Your Perseverance kept you both together, and their kindness kept you both sane.”

It made sense. “So... our SOULSs are like, really close?” it was a nice thought.

“the closest I’ve ever seen.”

“Thank God. Sometimes I get worried they’re just putting up with me.”

Sans chuckled. “I can understand that. Sometimes I still don’t know why Paps keeps me around. But then they talk to you, even at your worst, they’re just... there. Ya know?”

“Yeah. And they make you feel like no matter how messed up things are, how messed up YOU are, there’s at least one thing left in this world worth seeing tomorrow for.” Cyn stretched, and finally stood up. “Welp, I’m gonna go talk to the Royal guard about how to protect us from that homicidal flower.”

Sans stood up as well. “I admire your determination kid. But actually, I think I can help you with that better than Undyne.”


	13. Fight and Flight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> training montage!

“You believe the humans are mages?” Asgore seemed stunned at first, then thoughtful. “That would most certainly explain how their SOULs were strong enough to break the barrier.”

“at the very least, I think the sister is. Even if Rose isn’t, the resonance could have caused any potential to well up.” Sans shrugged. “got a few other theories too, but this one shows the most promise.”

“And this flower... is a SOULless being fueled only by Determination? Why must we use the human to fight it? can we not simply send the royal guard?”

“well...” Sans absently scratched his skull, “I don’t think they’d last. I think we need the strength of a human SOUL to combat this. Undyne might stand a chance against one human SOUL, but this... thing has six. So I say, fight human with human.”

“Will that not put the child in danger?”

“no offense your majesty, but as long as this thing is out there, we’re ALL in danger. And it seems like this thing is coming after the humans anyway. So, do you think your or Tori can train them?”

There was a twinge of sadness (or jealousy?) at the use of his ex-wife’s nickname, but he just heaved a heavy sigh. “Since it is for fighting, I think I would be the better teacher. I will speak to the elder child later. Should I teach the younger, as well?”

“nah, I don’t think that’s necessary.” The kid deserves a break. “they haven’t really shown any of the battle inclinations that the older one has.” Let them rest, don’t make them a fighter too. Don’t make them a killer. “but I’ve already spoken to the sister, and she’s agreed.”

“Oh? Already? Does she truly know the danger?”

“heh. She knows enough. Even said something like: ‘what does danger mean when my sibling and everyone else is in trouble?’. It was actually pretty cool.” 

***

“You still won’t give my knife back? Even after today?” Cinnamon crossed her arms. “Weren’t you just saying that you wouldn’t leave me defenseless?”

“a knife ain’t gonna do you any good against that monstrosity, kid.” Sans didn’t even like looking at the blade. Too many memories.

“Why not? It looks like a plant, but I can’t cut it like one?”

“exactly. It might hurt it, but that’ll just make it angrier. You gotta fight its SOUL directly, with magic. Just like your sibling.”

“Why attack Rose, anyway?”

“w-well, when they first fell, monsters didn’t even know they were human.”

“... Did anyone hurt them?”

“I kept an eye socket on them. They were never in danger.” Her eyes narrowed, and it looked like she was going to push the subject, so Sans changed the subject. “But now you need to learn to fight like a monster. Within the SOUL board.”

“Well fine, then tell me what a SOUL board is?”

Relieved that she was willing to switch to easier questions, he explained. “so it’s a way of fighting a SOUL directly, without attacking the body. Makes fights safer, easier to stop. You can’t exactly bleed out of a SOUL wound. Usually, monsters initiate it; you’re actually the first human I’ve seen to use it.”

“It’s not like I know what I’m allegedly doing.” Cyn shrugged. “So... the hearts that appeared in the box... were pieces of Flowey’s SOUL?”

“uuhhhhhh... not exactly.” It seemed like Rose had left out some of the more... worrisome parts of what had happened. How much should he say? “actually, he stole some, um, human SOULs. That we were... that we had. He doesn’t appear to have an actual SOUL of his own.”

“Are SOULs always shaped like hearts? Are they ever shaped like... upside down hearts? And white?”

Sans froze at that. “w-where... did you hear something like that?”

She rubbed the back of her neck. “Since I’ve gotten down here, I’ve been getting these weird nightmares. Well, they’re really only weird because they keep repeating, and they’re not like the ones I normally get. I can’t remember much when I wake up, but I remember all these little white hearts.”

“what else do you see in these dreams?” if Cyn had looked, she would’ve noticed that his eye sockets were completely, dangerously, dark.

“It depends. Sometimes I get my normal ones... the ones where... Rose dies... but sometimes, the way they die is weird, or I can’t really see it, which is different. And sometimes other people die? And I can never do anything. I just stand there.”

While she looked off into the distance, Sans’ mind was swimming. Was she seeing alternate timelines? H o w. she wasn’t even around for any! He would have noticed, wouldn’t he? There hadn’t been any resets since before Rose fell. But her description of just watching... not moving to help...

“Sans?” He snapped back to look at her. “The underground doesn’t have some weird effect on dreams, does it?”

He forced himself to grin. “nah, kid. So you think you’re ready to train with Asgore or nah?”

“Alright, alright. I’ll save my other questions for Rose.” She followed as Sans led her back to the giant goat monster, and the training began.

First was learning to actually bring up the box at will. It unnerved Asgore somewhat, being on the end of a SOUL board for the first time in a very long time. Seeing his SOUL so vulnerable like that... it put him on edge. Did the fallen humans feel this way as well, when he had fought them? Or was it worse for him, as he truly understood the vulnerability of his soul in that moment? He did his best to set aside his guilt and train the girl before him. After she seemed able to sustain the board, he worked on teaching her a trick normally reserved for boss monsters: getting rid of the RUN option. They didn’t want Flowey to get away and heal. 

Throughout the training, Cinnamon felt strange. It didn’t feel real, to be able to use magic. But that connection... it was almost tangible. Her SOUL felt it, even if her mind was having trouble keeping up. On the second day, everything changed. Suddenly things were much easier. Magic felt like the most natural thing in the world. Asgore voiced his surprise at how quickly she improved. The next few days were heavily focused on her magic training, and she had little time for anything else. At least it was interesting.

Rose was bored. Really bored. Sans had told them not to leave the castle until their sister could protect them, and the castle was starting to seem far too small, even with all the toys brought from home. Their parents had tried to contact them a number of times, probably after seeing the news about monsters being real and whatnot, so they were thinking of calling back in order to just do something. The peace negotiations were suffering too. Rose could appear via video chat, but it was slowing the process and the other leaders were starting to get annoyed that Rose couldn’t join them aboveground without any explanation as to why. They had hoped to maybe do some cooking with Toriel or Papyrus, but Toriel was constantly buried in work and Papyrus was often out being a royal guard, making sure the monsters respected the current ‘monster zone’ above ground. What made the isolation bearable was training with Undyne, but even that was rough and sometimes more than they could handle, and it just felt... repetitive. They needed a walk.

“Rose,” Cyn sputtered, “You can’t go outside! At least take Sans, in case you need to teleport out.”

“He’d just not let me leave! He’s been super protective and paranoid recently.”

“He has?” Cinnamon had been so busy training with Asgore; she mostly saw Rose at meals and before bed. Come to think of it, she hadn’t talked to Sans in days, but he did always seem to be... around. “Well I really don’t like the idea of you going out without protection.”

“Then I guess you’ll have to come with me, because I need a walk and I’m not telling anyone else.” Rose would have been fine going alone, but they knew Cyn was worried. And while they didn’t like it, they also realized that Flowey was dangerous. They probably understood it even better than Cyn did.

“Alright, let me just... find a weapon. Something heavy, to keep us safe.” Cyn began looking through the room. Despite Sans’ warning about only using magic, she just... didn’t feel comfortable without a weapon. Rose tapped on her shoulder, and Cyn turned around to see their sibling holding out a knife to them. “Wha- where did that come from?”

“Found it while I was exploring the room. Thought it might... come in handy at some point.”


	14. Real Knife

There’s something about having power. Real power. it feels GOOD. It was the closest Flowey had felt to happy in a long time. After the siblings escaped (for now), he decided to test some things out. The feeling of SOULs, of all the magic and strength that came with them... he went trigger happy in the Ruins. Spiders and Froggits scattered, and he reveled in the fear on their faces. Normally he didn’t let them see him; they would always go straight to Toriel, but now? He had nothing to fear from her. from ANYBODY.

But then he got bored. He wanted those SOULs. These ones gave him power but... they didn’t fit. There was something wrong. He was strong, but he still... couldn’t feel anything. He was supposed to be able to feel now! He was supposed to be fixed! Whole! WHY WASN’T IT WORKING WHY WASN’T IT WORKING WHY. Well. Those two siblings, their SOULs resonated so strongly that they broke the barrier. So maybe if he had them, he could be whole. Yeah. Time to stop playing and find where they went. He was filled with Determination.

He looked everywhere he could. Asked some moronic monsters if they knew. They didn’t. So he tried one of his new powers. Partial reset. He had complete control of the timeline. And he would find those humans.

Eventually, one of the royal guard told him that they were in the castle. So he just had to wait for them to come out. Waiting was not his strong suit, but he managed to... entertain himself for a few days. And then he saw two humans slip out through a back door, towards waterfall. About Damn time.

The music was strange to the humans. They didn’t say anything about it, but they both more felt rather than heard the soothing tune that seemed to permeate Waterfall. Was it the dripping water? Small monsters singing together? Rose idly hummed along, while Cinnamon tried to listen and tell what was making it, with no success. There was no real destination to their travel, just the need to move. The illusion of being able to escape your problems, your fear, if you just put enough physical distance between yourself and wherever you started. Until they were out, Cinnamon didn’t realize how much she needed it too. Rose had been cooped up, told to be in fear, their movements controlled almost to the same point as when they had been... but Cyn, she had a different schedule. She was always training, always following orders, without even realizing how much she was being molded into a soldier. But this freedom of just walking, being out in an open space, practically alone, reality hit her like a slap in the face. Rose had been a prisoner, and Cyn had been a soldier this past week. They were supposed to be past this. Past fighting for their lives. Would they ever be?

They hadn’t talked much, except Rose answering a few of their sister’s questions about plants or rocks. But it was nice. It was all the benefits of being alone without being alone. They were one person in two bodies, in this moment.

“H I Y A.”

Until the voice came.

Faster than Cyn could spin around, Flowey had already pulled Rose into combat, their bright green SOUL trapped, unable to escape.

“Finally! You guys took F O R E V E R to leave that stupid place.” There was Flowey, swaying back and forth with a malevolent smile plastered to his strange face. Cyn tried to remember her training, tried to bring up her own SOUL board, but it kept flickering out. Why wasn’t it working?! “Heh! Idiot! You cant trap me when I already pulled your stupid sibling into combat!” As if to prove a point, spinning white pellets encircled Rose’s SOUL, and they quickly moved to dodge them. 

[MERCY]

Cyn was frozen, watching their sibling expertly dodge the next round of attacks.

[MERCY]

Flowey’s appearance began to warp. Instead of white pellets, Rose’s SOUL was targeted by thick green vines.

[MERCY]

Their SOUL was hit.

[MERCY]

When had Flowey gotten so huge? He no longer appeared to be a plant, more some machine hybrid monstrosity.

[ACT]

“CINNAMON GET YOUR ASS IN GEAR!” Rose turned to yell at their sister, breathing heavily with exertion.

Cyn snapped out of it. they yanked the knife out of their back pocket and dashed forward at the thing that was hurting her sibling. Vines popped up, but she jumped over them. Strange hands pelted her, and she screamed in shock, stumbling. But she made it close enough to FIGHT. With all the malice she could muster, she attacked Flowey with the REAL KNIFE.

With an ear splitting shriek, a red bar flashed, becoming shorter. “FINE!” Flowey screamed, “if you’re going to be LIKE THAT, then I’ll just kill YOU FIRST!”

The SOUL board holding Rose in place faded, but before Flowey could change targets, Cyn had her own up, trapping... an Orange SOUL?

“Rose get back up!” Cyn grinned cockily at the enraged monster as it let out another shriek of rage. Time to put her training to the test. “Here’s to hoping this is the SOUL the gives you the power to be annoyingly loud!”

And she did her first attack.

Magic attacks, especially those in a SOUL board, manifest based on a number variable. What you associate with yourself, your intent, and even what you’re thinking at the time all factor in to the attack’s appearance and effects.

A row of knives fell from the top of the board as the orange SOUL desperately but amateurly jerked around. It blinked as it took damage and Cinnamon felt something immensely... satisfying. Another bar appeared for a few seconds, showing Flowey’s dropping health, but it was different from the one that showed up before. That one had been white, but this one was orange. “That’s for going after my sibling you weed!” she screamed in triumph.

“Oh?” he was calmer than she expected. He was supposed to be surprised, enraged, and rash. But his weird mechanical face just grinned creepily. “You forget, sugar stick,” the pet name came out with such malice and sarcasm, “I get a turn too!” And then, those giant green vines shot out of the ground at lightning speed, bludgeoning Cinnamon and tearing at her skin with thorns.

She let out a yell in surprise and pain, stumbling to her knees. Oooh, that hurt. Her training hadn’t exactly gotten to explaining how to take a hit. She gasped as a yellow bar appeared in front of her, slowly shortening. But her focus was on keeping that board in place! At least until someone could get her! “Is that all you got?” She kept a grin plastered to her face, hoping he couldn’t see past her ruse. Hoping he would become careless in his frustration.

***

The ketchup bottle twirled expertly in his hands. It was a blur of red as Sans paced around the castle. He hadn’t been able to find Rose anywhere. Last time he checked in, they had been making something in the kitchen, but they weren’t there anymore. Tori said she hadn’t seen them all day, and Asgore said he had only seen the older one. To say Sans was anxious was putting it mildly, especially after the partial resets. Five. There had been five. Sans hadn’t slept since the first time he noticed Rose and Toriel going over the same line of the same document, their conversation exactly the same as last time he noticed. He watched Papyrus happily whistle the same tune as he went out to his new job as royal guard, happily proclaiming his fifth day on the job. For the fourth time. He watched Cinnamon go to train with the king, running the same exercises over and over again, with the king using the exact same attacks. He hoped the kid’s improvements over that repeated time weren’t just in his imagination. He watched Alphys asked Undyne out on the same date three times. Caught Asgore crying in the tomb of children all five times. He wasn’t going through this again. He couldn’t. it was bad enough when it happened before, every time the flower died, but now... nothing was stopping As-Flowey from messing with the timeline however he wanted.

All his hopes were pinned on that human girl.

The girl who, more and more, showed signs of knowing things she shouldn’t know.

He had wandered into New Home now, and was unnerved that people had seen the humans recently, headed to waterfall.

And then he was in the castle.

“Sans?” Toriel looked down at him with concern. “You were about to ask me something?”

He looked down at his hands. Empty. He felt in his pocket. His ketchup bottle was there, but it was fuller than it should have been.

Another reset.

Shit.


	15. Definition of Insanity

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> when you repeat yourself, expecting the outcome to change.

Sans ran outside. It was fine, it was fine, this reset had only been about an hour back, he could find the humans... he ran out to New Home right away now, asking everyone where the humans were, and when they had come by. Waterfall. He had to get to waterfall. He took a shortcut, and started running around waterfall in search of the siblings. Why was this place so big...?

“Yes, Sans?” Toriel’s smiling face only served to make him sick to his stomach, and he short-cutted to Waterfall.

He had to find them.

He saw Rose! There they were, and they ran towards him as soon as they saw him. But where was-

“Sans?” Toriel put a furry hand on his shoulder. “You look unwell.”

***

“WHY!”

[ATTACK]

“DO YOU!”

[ATTACK]

“KEEP GETTING STRONGER?!”

It took the third reset for Cinnamon to notice that she was fighting the same battle, over and over, in a seemingly endless loop. What number were they one now? Counting didn’t seem to matter. The only thing that did matter... was that she was winning. Each re-do, her attacks came easier, went faster. Make no mistake, Flowey was doing damage as well. He was learning which places to hit to make her stagger, to try and break her concentration, but every battle ended with that little orange heart breaking, the board vanishing, Flowey screaming, and then the thing would begin all over again. The crazed plant’s attacks had first improved their accuracy, but now they were becoming erratic, and easier to dodge. Cyn panted, sweating and messy, but unwilling to give up. She Persevered. She could take the abuse. He seemed to be only able to do physical damage; Cyn wasn’t sure whether that was good or bad, but at least she knew how to dodge that. Mostly. Her clothes were in tatters, and every few battles she was pretty sure Flowey hit a vital organ, but every time. She endured.

Sans got there in only a few minutes this time, and caught Rose in a hug as they came rushing around the corner.

“hey kid, looks like we’re running out of time,” Sans hoped his attempts at humor would distract from the anxious sweat beading on his skull.

“Sans! Cinnamon is fighting Flowey! We have to get her out NOW!” Rose was panicked. They felt like they had been running on this path for hours, and finally found Sans for the first time. Rose grabbed Sans’ hand and pulled him back towards the scene of the battle.

It looked bad. The Monstrosity that Flowey had become was releasing all kinds of nightmare noises, especially when the orange heart, so small looking in comparison on the tiny SOUL board, took any damage. Sans CHECKed the stats. Close. Cyn was so close to winning. Looking at her, she was bleeding badly, and had fallen to her knees. That made it difficult for her to dodge the lasers that shot from her enemy.

“SANS!” Rose yelled at him, “get her OUT!”

But she was so close. He walked closer to the battle, and they both noticed him, but gave little notice, so caught up in the fight. He checked Cyn’s stats. Her health was dangerously low. But the orange heart’s was lower. She was so close...

“SANS!” 

Rose was shaking him. he brought them back to the castle and returned to the battle alone. There. Now they were safe. The battle was going well. The only thing he worried about was the steady loss of health Cyn suffered as her blood pooled at her feet. Should he join the encounter? No, if anything happened everyone would need him. and she was so very, so incredibly-

A ring of hands appeared around Cyn, and then they all shot in at her. she screamed. That had been SOUL damage.

But she held out. And in her next attack, the orange heart once more broke.

Flowey’s rage echoed through Waterfall. Sans dashed forward as soon as the encounter board was gone, and grabbed Cyn to take a shortcut back to the castle. He sat in the golden judgement hall, grasping the girl’s body as she struggled to breathe, waiting for another reset. But none came. He waited until he realized... he could no longer hear her breathing.


	16. No longer the Sole Soul Connection

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sans realizes he made a mistake.

“TORI!” Sans was not known for being loud, but just this once, his voice echoed through the castle, and maybe the entirety of New Home. His hands hovered over the girl, unsure. Was she already gone? No, no no no no no... they needed her, the underground needed her, how else would they keep fighting Flowey? And there were still so many questions... she needed to help him! help him protect Rose! And all of the underground! No one else could keep them safe! Could keep his friends, Papyrus, safe!

Tori was too slow, and there was only one thing he could think to do.

“well, heh, not like I was saving it for anyone special...” Sans mumbled to himself. He carefully, hesistantly, so gently, pulled her SOUL out. it was fluttering, barely holding together. Her body was dying and the SOUL wouldn’t last long after that. He knew he had to hurry. With all the conviction he could muster, he forced his own magic into her SOUL. The small purple heart in front of him tried to reject him, refuse his advances, but it began to seep through. And Sans was practically thrown back from the emotions that flowed into him from Cinnamon’s very being.

Fear, stars, there was so much fear. Fear of hurt, of rejection, of not being good enough, of being hated, of being ignored, of not knowing where the next meal was coming from... Sans clutched at his hoodie, rooting himself to something tangible so that he didn’t get lost in her emotions. He had to keep her alive, force her body to heal if he had to. Wave after wave of fear flowed through his SOUL, until it passed. Next came acceptance, and endurance. The essence of not giving up, of maybe not standing tall, but of not being moved, not for anyone or anything. The feeling of a rock, weathered down by centuries of crashing waves, but unmoving. The feeling of the tree that survives the forest fire, battered but with just enough life in it to regrow. Sans latched on to this, this is the part of her that would keep her alive. He tried to hold this emotion in place for as long as he could. He could hear heavy footsteps behind him; thank Asgore, hopefully that was Tori. The feeling slipped through his hands and the next wave came.

And he lost himself in it.

It was hope, pure and simple, and by stars, it was love. Hope for the future, for a future not of one person, but of many. Hope that the world would be kind, that they would be that kindness. Love, overpowering love. It spoke clearly of Cinnamon’s love for Rose above all else, but it wasn’t limited to them. There was love for humanity, for monsters, for the earth, the sky, the feeling of being ALIVE. There was hope for being alive to feel that love, whether given or received.

Sans didn’t notice he was crying until Toriel’s screams brought him out of his trance. Why was she screaming instead of healing? He looked down and saw the purple SOUL dangerously close to his chest. “shit!” he shoved it back, holding it above Cinnamon’s now breathing body.

“Sans... you almost absorbed her SOUL!” Toriel looked at him in shock and horror. Then her attention refocused on the vulnerable SOUL. It was a dim purple... surrounded by a glowing blue magic. “Sans what did you-“

“I bought her time is what I did. now, can you heal her or not?” his voice came out sharper than intended, but Toriel merely gave him a curt nod and leaned over the unconscious human.

Cyn looked bad. Her skin and the muscles beneath were torn up in many places. Most of the wounds were oozing, but Toriel immediately focused on the places where the blood came in spurts. She was the best healer in the underground, but it had been so long since she worked on a human, with all their finicky bits... she was relying heavily on humans’ abilities to self repair their bodies. A glance at the human’s SOUL gave her some reassurance. The fact that the dominant trait was Perseverance was in itself a boon. It was doing its best to hold on for something. However, Sans had pumped the SOUL so full of his magic that she would only be able to heal physical damage for now, and even then it was difficult. His blue aura flared through her body and SOUL, trying to hold everything together without really fixing it. And, pumped full of Sans and Cinnamon’s magic, Toriel’s power was seen as almost an invading force.

“Come now child,” she mumbled, eyes narrowing in concentration, “let me in...!”

Rose came dashing around the corner, tears in their eyes. “SANS! How could you just LEAVE me here and-“ their spiel cut off when they saw their sister on the floor in a pool of blood.

Sans looked up with tired eyes. “she’s alive.”

That was all he needed to say. All anger forgotten, Rose ran to him and collapsed, wrapping their arms around his skeletal frame. “Oh thank God, thank you so much... thank you for saving her...”

Sweat beaded on his skull, and he felt some guilt at the untruth of the statement, but didn’t correct them. “heh. Couldn’t just leave em there, right?”

“I didn’t mean- gosh- she’s alright?”

“yeah, Tori’s fixing her up.” A glance in that direction, however, told Sans that something was wrong. Only a few wounds were closing up, and the combined aura of purple and blue seemed to be... almost fighting Toriel’s healing? Tori looked up at him with a face that caused a knot of fear deep within him. the healing wasn’t working. He stopped her from dying, but she wasn’t getting better. 

“Sans.” Toriel’s tone caused him to pry Rose off and walk over, as the sibling looked on in abject fear. So much blood. “I need you to use your new... bond to help her accept my magic. You used too much, and now it is simply rejecting me.”

“What does that mean?” Rose spoke up before Sans could protest. “You’re healing her right?”

“I am trying, my child,” Toriel’s smile was tense, “but she is rejecting me. With Sans’ magic in her, he might be able to help open her up.”

“Is- is there anything I can do?” Rose hated feeling helpless. Their sister was right there, bleeding out in front of them, and they jut felt so... useless. They couldn’t lose Cyn. They just couldn’t. it wasn’t possible. They didn’t hear Toriel telling them to breathe, nor Sans’ suggestion that they go take a break somewhere else. Rose themselves didn’t even realize what they were doing until they were kneeling in the blood, their hands wrapped around one of Cyn’s cold, dead- no, not dead- cold, tired hands. Tears rolled softly down their face.

Sans felt his sins crawling on his back. He could have stepped in, made the battle go faster, or even pulled cinnamon out. But he hadn’t he had selfishly sat back and watch as this human single handedly fought a monster of immense power, all in the name of protecting their sibling and an underground that they didn’t even know. Tori pulled his attention back to the dying girl in front of them.

“I think the most efficient way to go about this would be to try and channel my healing into you, and you heal her.”

“uh, tori, not to sound ungrateful, but I really don’t do healing magic.”

“You do now, Sans. If you can, also try to drain a bit of her magic to calm her SOUL.”

Sans nervously put his hands over a wound, and his magic, which had previously been drifting around the human holding the blood in, concentrated on that one area. But he wasn’t a healer. He didn’t know the first damn thing about healing. Tori tried to give him basic instructions, to guide him in moving his magic. That wasn’t what his magic was. His SOUL was violent, and selfish, and-

Tori’s gasp redirected his attention. Cyn’s SOUL was still out in the open, a purple heart with green undertones, surrounded in blue. But now, the green was starting to overpower the purple.

Rose felt something deep within them THROB.


	17. Excuses, Excuses

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> none of the excuses really seem like enough.

Cyn felt something deep within her THROB.

Something was calling her, pushing her to move. There was somewhere she needed to be. Something she had to do. But it was so damn hard. Just a little more rest. A few more minutes of peace. The throbbing came stronger, more insistent. It hurt so much. What hurt? Everything. Nothing. The nothing hurt. There was no real reason to move, anyway. Nothing could be worth the pain it took.

Except for the song. The throbbing turned to thrumming, a deep vibration that carried with it something of utmost importance.

And so, with effort no less than that of a tree uprooting itself of its own volition, Cinnamon opened her eyes. The pain became secondary to whatever it was that was making her sibling cry. She tried to say something either comforting or threatening, but opening her mouth or raising a reassuring hand apparently would take far more energy than currently available.

Seeing their sister’s eyes open, Rose’s sobs doubled in relief. The throbbing of their SOUL calmed, and the tune they were sure they heard was impossible to remember. They clutched Cyn’s hand desperately to their chest, as if that would ensure that she would stay awake and here.

Papyrus and Undyne came bursting into the hall now, the King hot on their heels.

“SOMETHING HAPPENED TO THE HUMANS?!”

“That DWEEB better be alright!”

“What is going on in here? Toriel? Sans?”

The newcomers took in the scene. Cyn laid out on the floor in a pool of blood, smiling up at Rose, who was sobbing over them. Sans with his hands covered in blood and Toriel’s hand on his back. The SOUL hovering there, shimmering in iridescent greens and purples, surrounded by a blue haze.

“Well, the sister survived,” Toriel managed to get out, voice high and strained, “and Rose is most certainly a mage.”

***

“So lemme get this straight,” Undyne massaged her temples. Toriel, Asgore, Alphys, Papyrus, and Sans sat at this table together, trying to piece together some things. “The dweeb is a healing mage. The sister is alive, and isn’t a total weenie. They have some weird bond. And to keep the human alive- and I need to hear this one more time- Sans did WHAT?”

“CONGRATULATIONS BROTHER! EVEN IF THIS IS NOT EXACTLY HOW A ROMANCE SHOULD BE DONE, I DID NOTICE YOU SPENDING MORE TIME WITH THAT HUMAN!” Papyrus clapped Sans on the back.

Sans was extremely uncomfortable. “look paps, I only did a SOUL bond so that she wouldn’t die. It was the only thing I could think of.”

“It definitely saved her life,” Toriel chimed in, “but a soul bond is no substitute for healing and is a VERY serious matter.” Sans further withered under her glare.

“look, uh,” Sans was having trouble making eye contact with anyone at the point. The only one he could look at was Asgore, but even then that glance of pity was almost as bad. “I can handle it. soon as she gets better, I’ll work on breaking it. she never even has to know.”

“You cannot simply make and break a soul bond in a day!” Asgore sounded shocked that Sans had even considered it. “Especially seeing how much you poured in to keep her together. If you do not want to hurt the poor child, that bond will take quite a while to break.”

“N-n-not to m-mention, during that time you’ll be, like s-s-super tuned in to her emotional and physical s-s-state...” Alphys looked very worried. Sans got the feeling she had noticed his own emotional state more than he had meant to let on.

“Sheesh, breaking a soul bond like it’s a thing of convenience? I expected better from you Sans.” Undyne sounded a bit disgusted. “You saying you would’ve just done that to anyone? Without their consent? Gross man.”

“I FOR ONE AM VERY EXCITED ABOUT WELCOMING THE HUMAN INTO OUR FAMILY! OH! SINCE THEYRE RELATED, THEN ARE THEY BOTH OUR FAMILY NOW?! WOWIE! WHAT A TRULY WONDROUS DAY!”

Sans seriously contemplated just teleporting into the void. Asgore was right, a bond truly takes time to break, especially if he didn’t want to cause her SOUL any damage. He could risk a faster break, but then she’s be especially susceptible to attacks from Flowey... but Alphys was also correct in her concern. Sans could already feel the echoes of Cinnamon’s emotions, and even now he could feel his SOUL trying to get him to go to her. but he was stronger than that. It would be fine.

“Sans, there also seems to be some things you’ve kept from us.” Asgore’s voice was still calm, but now it truly held the tone of a King asking a question, rather than a talk between equals. It had been a long time since he used that tone. “You must be more open if we are to work together. We are trying to protect all monsters here, are we not? As ruler, I implore you to open up about this... Flowey.”

***

Cinnamon felt really weird. And it was a feeling she couldn’t quite place. Rose was right there, and hadn’t left her side since she woke up, apparently in a pool of blood. They were back in their room in the castle. Periodically Toriel would come in and do another round of healing, casting strange glances at the patient. Whenever one of the humans would ask questions about the healing, Toriel would deflect and change the subject before leaving.

Cinnamon was confused, but not entirely displeased. Rose told her that somehow their resonance had let Rose heal her, and that one of the SOULs Flowey had stolen was now... released. That was the word they were using. The two of them had talked together about using magic to fight together, but Toriel responded with a pained smile whenever the topic was brought up.

Rose, however, made it very clear that they would now be learning magic and fighting with Cyn.

But then there was that feeling. It wasn’t hunger, or loneliness, or anything Cyn could really place. She felt wound up. It was probably from that near death situation. That’s what it was, wasn’t it? she had almost died, and this must be shock. Rose had already calmed down a couple panic attacks, so it made sense.

But then why did that tightness in her chest go away when Sans walked into the room?

Probably because he saved her.

She cracked a smile at the skeleton. It almost didn’t hurt. “Hey Sans. Thanks for saving me.”

“Yeah, Sans, thanks for saving her.” Rose’s voice stopped Sans cold.

He started sweating. “yeah, I, um, came to see how you were doing?”

Cyn looked between the two in confusion. Why was Rose glaring daggers at Sans? “So... how am I doing? Toriel won’t give me much detail.”

“well, from what tori s-said,” Sans cast nervous glances at Rose. The look in their eyes was almost enough to do damage to his SOUL. “it uh, looks like your SOUL only took a lot of damage and... your body was... pretty... bad... but! But now, you’re almost done. Your body is almost healed. You just have to, um, make more blood, and then a nap and some food should... heal your SOUL right up...”

“Isn’t that nice?” Rose’s tone was like an icy dagger.

“Um, isn’t it?” Cyn was definitely very confused now. “Am I missing something here?”

“Sans, can I talk to you in private?” Rose stood up from the seat by Cyn’s bed. Their sister raised a questioning eyebrow, but was easily placated by a promise of “Later”. Sans nervously followed Rose out into the hallway. Rose quietly closed the door to the room and turned to the skeleton.

[MISS]

Their slap hit only air. The skeleton before them was definitely sweating, far more than usual. The swing was enough to get Rose back into focus, but their rage was still simmering.

Sans, on the other hand, was a little scared. This was the first time he had seen Rose take a swing at anyone seriously. Ever. “hey, kid, look,” they did look, and Sans regretted his choice of words. He couldn’t meet their eyes. “I’m really sorry. I messed up, not getting her out sooner. I made the wrong call.”

“You think?” Rose’s words were venom.

“but I got them out in the end, right? And she got rid of one of the SOULs. The orange one, which is good, that one was probably-“

“SANS!” he shut up. “You let her fight. You SAW how badly she was doing, and you didn’t help. Then you took me back here without her! Do you have any idea how that made me feel? How scared I was?” he shrank into his jacket, and Rose advanced on him, suddenly looking much bigger. “How would you have felt? If it had been Papyrus hurt and bleeding?” Oh but it had been, so many times, and he never, why did he never? “What if she had died, Sans? What would-“ their voice broke, and the tears that they thought had run out came back, full force. “What if she had died Sans. How could I- what would...”

He was torn between apologizing again and moving to comfort them. “I wouldn’t have let that happen, kid.” Liar. “I just- I saw how close to winning she was and I knew that she was gonna make it.” liar liar liar.

But Rose wanted so desperately to believe him. they wanted to trust their friend. “Okay.” It was barely a whisper, more of an exhale than a word. “Then... want to tell me why I ran down the same stretch of Waterfall a whole bunch of times?”

“heh, if I take the time to explain it properly, will you try to not be angry at me anymore?”

“No. but then, I won’t have any new reason to be angry with you yet.”

“welp, guess that’s fair.” He was really not looking forward to bringing up the subject of SOUL bonds.


	18. One Step Forward, Two Steps...

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> closer?
> 
> Sans deals with the fallout of his decision.

Rose was sitting at the edge of Cinnamons bed, while their sister was trying to sit up into a comfortable postion. It wasn’t working out. Across from them, Sans sat on Rose’s bed, trying to explain the concept of resets. It should be easy, he had just explained that, and a whole lot more, to the Royals, Royal Guard, and Royal Scientist (well, she actually helped with a lot of the explaining). But for some reason, repeating it felt even harder than the first time. And these were humans, how much would they understand?

“So it’s just like a video game?” Rose suggested.

Okay, maybe they would understand really quickly. “sorta, yeah. Before all this, they only did a reset when they died, but now they can save and load at will.”

Cyn raised her hand, then felt stupid and put it back down. “Two questions: first, how many SOULs do we have to get rid of before he can’t do that? Second, why did he stop loading our battle?”

“kid, you know the definition of insanity?”

“Don’t call us kids.” Rose said.

Sans was very uncomfortable. “um, anyway, the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. Flowey prob’ly got tired and realized he was gonna lose no matter what. Didn’t save at the right time or somethin’.”

“Wait. What’s stopping him from going on a killing spree to gain EXP?!” a look of horror dawned on the younger human’s face.

“EXP? This really is... a lot like a video game, isn’t it?”

“Flowey could just go around killing other monsters! We have to get word out, make sure everyone gets to safety, should we evacuate everyone to the castle?” the human paced across the floor, biting their nails.

“whoa, calm down k- pal. We already discussed that with the Dreemurs. We put out word, and if anyone starts disappearing there are designated evacuation zones.” It seemed to calm them down. “that was probably a lot, so I’ll just... let you guys be for now.” He moved to leave. “and uh, Cinnamon, you should probably get some rest. You went through... a lot.” Maybe she would never have to know how much. He had already decided not to mention exactly how close she had been to death, to either human.

As he closed the door, Sans let out a breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding. Rose hadn’t dusted him, so there was one positive to that whole thing. As he turned the corner, he felt his eyelights go dim.

“uh... paps, what are you doing with... those?”

Papyrus was holding balloons, a stack of various books, a notepad and pencil, and a wrapped gift. “I AM PREPARING TO GIVE THE HUMAN WISHES FOR GOOD HEALTH AND TO WELCOME HER INTO THE FAMILY!”

Undyne popped up behind Papyrus, draping an arm over his shoulder. “Toriel said that the soldier is well enough for us to go see ‘em. Kinda excited to see who’s strong enough to survive against six human SOULs. And who’s unfortunate enough to have your SOUL bonded to them.”

“um, actually, they’re still... recovering, so, its probably best to just uh, let the humans... rest?” In his mind, all Sans could think was ‘shit shit shit shit shit. I’m not gonna let them bring up the SOUL bond this way.’

“A-actually, I w-was just texting Rose and they said we c-could do an... anime... marathon. A-and th-that Cinnamon would like it! You could w-watch with us!” Alphys sounded far more confident that usual, at the one time Sans didn’t want her to.

“well bro, I haven’t exactly... brought up the whole SOUL bond thing yet. She’s still recovering, and I don’t wanna... I’ll do it later, so how about you give me all that?” He reached out to take the things from Papyrus, but the taller skeleton merely held it out of his reach.

“NYEH! BROTHER, THIS IS ONE THING I INSIST YOU NOT BE LAZY ABOUT! YOU MUST TELL HER AT ONCE! THEN WE MAY BEGIN PLANNING YOUR FIRST DATE, MAKE SURE SHE UNDERSTANDS THE BASIC PUZZLES, TEACH HER SKELETON HISTORY-“

Ignoring Papyrus’ spiel, Sans used his magic to levitate the armfuls of gifts up and away from Papyrus, to rest in Sans’ arms. “oh, whoops, looks like it’s time to do, well, not that. how ‘bout this bro?” Sans dodged as Papyrus lunged to recover the lost items. “how ‘bout I give all these to her instead? It’ll give us... somethin to talk about?”

Papyrus cast him a suspicious glance. “YOU WILL GO IN THERE RIGHT NOW AND EXPLAIN?”

“yeah, sure.”

“AND THEN YOU WILL RETURN HERE, WHEREUPON WE SHALL ALSO ENTER THE ROOM TO WATCH ANIME AND DISCUSS YOUR FIRST DATE!”

“no, no dates. i’m not going on a date with a human.”

“I DID IT AND IT WAS QUITE FUN! EVEN IF IT ENDED IN HEARTBREAK!”

“paps. please.”

“IT WILL ALSO BE GOOD FOR YOU TO GO OUT AND SPEND TIME WITH SOMEONE! OTHER THAN ME! IN A ROMANTIC ENVIRONMENT! ESPECIALLY SOMEONE STRONG AND COOL, WHO HAS AN AMAZING YOUNGER SIBLING! WHO ALSO WANTS TO PROTECT PEOPLE! SOMEONE WHO HAS NOT GOTTEN TO SEE MUCH OF THE UNDERGROUND! AND WHO ALSO- WELL, CINNAMON SEEMS LIKE AN EXCELLENT HUMAN TO BEFRIEND! I’M SURE IT WILL NOT END IN HEARTBREAK!”

“especially since neither of us has a romantic interest in each other.”

“You’re SERIOUS Sans?” Undyne was giving him that look again. Like he was disgusting. “You created a SOUL bond with no emotions for her? is that even possible?”

Alphys stepped in between the royal guards and the flustered skeleton. “H-h-how about w-w-we j-just watch anime? A-a-a-and let Sans handle this himself? N-n-not n-now, but soon, a-as s-s-soon as the human f-feels a little b-b-b-better?”

“UGH. FINE. C’mon Papyrus, let’s get to know this hero a little better!” Undyne took Papyrus in a headlock and dragged them towards the room.

Alphys waited for them to go inside before turning to Sans, adjusting the laptop she held under one scaly arm. “W-what are you g-g-going to do? About the S-S-SOUL b-bond...”

“I dunno alph.” Sans scratched at his skull. “what do ya think of my chances of not telling them til after I break it? then, maybe, Rose won’t try to dust me.”

“B-but, your instincts are g-g-going to kick in a-and... Cinnamon w-will probably feel something d-d-different too...”

“she’s a human. prob’ly won’t feel a thing. and as for me, I can handle it.” He put down all the things Papyrus had brought, and shoved his hands in his jacket pockets. “gonna go rest these aching bones. have fun with your cartoons.” And with that he walked around the corner.

Alphys shook her head and sighed. “Anime is different from cartoons...” she mumbled to herself, and joined the room, where Rose was desperately trying to keep Undyne from noogie-ing an uncomfortable Cinnamon.

***

Sans leaned against the other side of the wall. He had planned on going to look for Flowey again, to try and figure out his plans, but... the newly created SOUL bond was raw and sensitive. When he went too far from Cyn, there was a nagging pull in the back of his mind, like an itch he couldn’t scratch. He wandered around the castle all the rest of the day, but found himself going back to that room over and over. He resisted the urge to go in, but even when night came he couldn’t bring himself to wander far. It had been an exhausting day. He could tell what Cyn was feeling the whole time, and whenever she had a particularly painful moment, he would feel a shadow of it in his non-existent organs. And stars. The panic attacks. The first time she had one, after the shock had worn off, Sans had almost collapsed. It hit him like a knife, and triggered his own panic attack. He quickly had to learn to suppress his reactions. Asgore had almost seen. Who know what Papyrus would do if he saw something like that.

Sans put a bony hand over his chest, vaguely over his SOUL. Maybe he had been too hasty. It was an invasion of privacy, to say the least.

He wondered if Rose knew how scared Cinnamon was.

He hated that the fear felt familiar. Even if it lacked the tinge of apathy that he had gained. With a start, he had a realization. He hadn’t seen... were the resets over? Was that apathy something he couldn’t afford anymore? His choices, his actions... they were set. He couldn’t just re-do everything. The next time he lost Papyrus, he would lose him for good.

Sans had a panic attack.

***

The sleeping form on the bed across the room turned over and mumbled something. Cyn watched with affection. She had slept on and off all day, and just... she felt tired, but not sleepy yet. She got up and walked to her bag, stretching as she went. It was so strange that the pain was just gone. She felt physically fine. Mentally scarred, but hey, what else was new? Maybe one of the video games still had battery life, and she could play until she fell asleep.

Suddenly, she couldn’t move. There was a tightness in her chest, like the beginning of a panic attack, but why? There was nothing to trigger it? was- was she not fully healed? Was something wrong that she didn’t know about? Shit, well, now she was definitely panicking. Cyn clutched at her shirt, and she felt something... familiar. It was like when her SOUL had led her to Rose, but much, much, muuuuuch weaker. But that pull was still there. It led her to... the wall? No. whatever was on the other side.

Cinnamon quietly left the room, curious as to what her SOUL was leading her to. Hopefully it wasn’t outside. She had no intention of fighting Flowey again. She walked around the halls, playing a game of hot and cold as she tried to figure out where she was going. It felt like going in a big circle, until she saw him.

Sans was curled up on the floor, bac against a wall. He looked small. Not the strange vaguely threatening figure the human had come to know, but instead he looked like a vulnerable child. He was mumbling something, and Cyn wondered if he was asleep. She knelt next to him and extended a hand, but didn’t touch him yet.

“Sans?”

His head shot up, eye lights wide and trained on her face, his permanent grin obviously strained. “y-yeah?” he was sweating, a lot, and even though he had looked up, he was still tightly curled in on himself.

“Are you okay?” she knew he wasn’t, there was absolutely no way. This looked like a panic attack to her, but she knew that everyone dealth with them differently.

“’course.”

She rolled her eyes. What had she expected? “You’re not. You look like you’re having a panic attack. How do I help?” she let her arm extend, very slowly moving to place her hand on his arm, giving him all the time in the world to pull away or ask her to stop. He didn’t.

“’m not, I just-“ he cut himself off as her warm hand came to rest on his jacket. He tried and failed not to lean in at the touch, and found himself relaxing. When had he even tensed up?

Noticing his relaxed posture, she scooted close and sat next to him. leaving her hand where it was, Cyn maneuvered so that a part of her arm was touching as well. “Do you want a hug? That’s what calms me down.”

Yes, stars yes. “no, this is... just this is fine.” His breathing began to calm, and he slowly uncurled. Sans let his eye sockets slide closed. Breathe in. breathe out. They sat in silence for a minute.

“Do you wanna talk about it?”

“not really.”

“Alright.”

Her hand still rested lightly on his jacket. Neither of them moved. Sans felt calm, his mind going blank. Cinnamon wouldn’t let herself move. If he wasn’t going to open up, then she would make sure that her hand was there until he wanted it gone. Plus, it felt nice, for some reason. Was she still touch starved? Even after all the attention Rose had been giving her? oh well. Neither of them were sure when they fell asleep there.


	19. Secondhand Emotions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sans is trying, he really is, but what can prepare you for raw feeling?
> 
> Rose and Cinnamon have a serious chat that's been put off for far too long.

Sans woke up a little stiff and sore from sleeping in a sitting position on the floor like that. And yet he couldn’t remember the last time he’d slept that well. He turned his head to see what had woken him, and found Cinnamon leaned against him, shifting in her sleep. She must have fallen against him at some point. It felt... nice. He had never gotten that much contact with either of the humans, not being the hugger that Papyrus was. They were soft, like he expected. He had gathered that much from handshakes. A bit squishier in some places, apparently. And warm, very warm. Like a little human furnace. He managed to sit up without disturbing her sleep, and took her back to the room she shared with Rose, carefully laying her in bed. It was early; so early that no one was up yet. Sans decided to go find someplace to nap.

Cinnamon had not been fully asleep. She had woken up when Sans moved, but hadn’t actively accepted the fate of waking up. So she was half-conscious as he carried her into the room she shared with Rose and laid her in bed, tucking her in. and somehow, even though she hadn’t opened her eyes, she knew he lingered there for a few minutes. But then she returned to sleep.

The next time she wakes up, Toriel is there, checking her body and SOUL for injuries. And there are none. She is, in video game terms, back up to full health. Rose lets out a breath they didn’t realize they’d been holding, and Cyn laughs. It feels so strange, the fact that nothing hurts. She gets the impression that, before this, her SOUL hadn’t been exactly healthy. But that doesn’t matter now. What does matter, according to Toriel, is:

“Actually, I would like to know both of your opinions on some negotiations we are going through with the humans.” The siblings follow their goat mother through the halls and into a room where Asgore is hunched over a table covered in haphazardly stacked piles of paper. “We are currently looking at whether we want to define ourselves as a kingdom, as we have in our time underground, or whether we want to attempt citizenship of the country within which Mount Ebbot currently resides.”

“Both options are terrible,” Asgore grumbles between the furry paws currently holding his face. “If we try to stay our own country, we will have almost no land on which our people can wake up to the sun, and the humans can easily ignore any concerns we have. We would be such a small country by their standards.”

“But if we try to integrate,” Toriel tiredly pipes up, “We will not have any Immediate protections. Our people will not be confined to any area by law, as would happen were we our own nation, but I do not trust their ruler’s eagerness to make us... citizens.”

Cinnamon is trying to remember social studies classes when Rose speaks up. “Have either of you slept last night?” They cross their arms and, for the first time since they fell down there, they look thirteen years old, a child chastising their parents. Their goat parents, who are easily twice as tall as them. 

Cinnamon stares, first embarrassed for not even thinking of the monster’s well being, and then utterly distraught as they realize how... old, Rose has grown. They are supposed to be getting ready for high school, to be collecting trading cards, and instead they are an ambassador for monsters that shouldn’t exist, and even before that they were never treated their age, always being treated the same as Cyn by their parents, expected to act eighteen when they were thirteen fucking years old. And Cinnamon’s heart breaks for the child that could have been but was never allowed to be. They lived with Toriel, their sweet, wonderful, considerate mother, instead of the selfish and confused human one, but they couldn’t just get their childhood back.

***

“SANS! ARE YOU... CRYING?”

“what, nah paps.” Sans quickly gets rid of the evidence with his sleeve. “crying is way too much work. just thinking about it is wearin me out. ‘m gonna go nap.”

“YOU LAZYBONES, YOU ONLY JUST GOT HERE! AND I WAS GOING TO SHOW YOU THIS NEAT PLANT I FOUND ON DUTY THE OTHER DAY! THE SURFACE HAS SO MANY PLANTS!”

“alright, I’ll take a nap after you show me the thing.”

***

Rose was more than excited to start their magic training. They were ecstatic. They hated to admit, even to themselves, how jealous they were when Cinnamon got to learn how to fight. Rose did not like fighting. Hated hurting people. But it was MAGIC. who doesn’t want that? And, according to mom, it was healing magic that they would be learning. Which had to be, objectively, the best kind of magic. Cyn wouldn’t be stuck fighting Flowey alone, and she would never, ever, get that hurt ever again. Rose would heal her, every time. They would be unstoppable, because they made the best team in every board game, card game, maybe not sports, but video games, they were amazing at those.

But it turned out, learning magic was hard.

When Rose healed their sister, it had been triggered by their resonance, and Cinnamon’s soul calling out for help, and Rose’s soul sensing that there was something that needed fixing. But when Toriel tried to help them practice, to call their magic alone, it didn’t work. sometimes Rose would almost feel it, they could feel the magic there, but they couldn’t bring it out.

During their lunch break, Rose made a point to eat more pie than actual food. “I can feel it! I’m super close! But it’s not happening!”

“Maybe I have to be in trouble again?” Cinnamon suggested with a shrug. “I could cut my hand or something?”

Rose hated that they knew the offer was a serious one. Toriel cast over a glace that was a mix of horror and admonishment. “My child! No one is going to be intentionally hurting anyone. Except... maybe on a SOUL board. That might... actually be safe. Cinnamon, dear, perhaps we could pair your training with Asgore with Rose’s practice?”

“Yeah, absolutely.” Cinnamon took another big bite of pie, not at all showing the fear that suddenly appeared. After that last battle... SOUL boards made her more than a little nervous. They did, in fact, make her a lot nervous. Which was ridiculous. She would be in no danger here. Asgore was a big wuss, he would never hurt her. on purpose. Would he? But there was that rumor, she remembered, about the king and the fallen children...

Around the corner, Sans clutched at his SOUL in pain, breaking out in a nervous sweat.

***

Later that night, in the room the humans share, Cinnamon is looking at the knife. Rose said that they just found it in the room. It didn’t really look like anything special. A kitchen knife. It looked really old, but for some reason there was no rust. Did things rust in the underground? Why wouldn’t they, that’s science.

“Cyn.” She looked up to see Rose watching. Her sibling had just bathed, and there were still drops of water clinging to their hair. Their hand was held out expectantly.

“Wassup?” She played dumb.

Rose was having none of it. “I’m not stupid.”

Cyn sighed. “I know.”

“I’m trying to trust you, but today... you’ve been off.”

“I wasn’t going to do it.”

“Really?”

She didn’t respond, and Rose sat on their bed across from their sister. Their brave, beautiful, kind, sister. They wanted so badly for her to be okay. But they had no clue where to even begin with this kind of thing. luckily, Cyn began by herself.

“It’s hard.”

“Yeah.”

“I didn’t want to let you know. Didn’t want to hurt you.”

“I know. It’s why I never said anything. Maybe I should’ve.”

Cinnamon squeezed the handle of the knife, and took a deep shuddering breath. “I love you.”

Rose got up and hugged her. “I love you too.”

Cyn hugged back, tight. “We can do this. I know it. So. I’m going to ask your permission.”

“Cyn, you can’t-“

“Can I rely on you a little?”

Rose relaxed their grip, trying to look at their sister’s face, but Cyn held tight. She needed a bit longer. So Rose wrapped their arms back around her. “Yes.”

“Alright.” Cinnamon finally let go. She handed the knife to Rose. “I don’t like relying on you, sometimes. You’re so young. I kind of tried to be your mom for a long time.”

“I know. You were a good mom.”

***

On the other side of the wall, Sans was sobbing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is also an apology. And a thank you. For always being there for me. know I'm always there for you too.
> 
> And for everyone, I love you.


	20. Training Montage

It was absolutely ridiculous. Sans had spent so long, so many resets, perfecting his mask. He couldn’t remember everything, but he did a damn good job at remembering how to fake a smile. Hide his fear, his sorrow, everything. So why was it so damn hard to hide these second hand emotions from the human? Not to mention the... other urges. If he went too long without seeing her, he felt... weird. Maybe anxious? And he couldn’t be too far away. If he felt her SOUL go too far-and now he could feel approximately where she was all the damn time-he would freak out and have to drop whatever he was doing to follow her. This instinct stuff was ridiculous.

So here he was, not hiding, because it’s totally normal to be there when new mage training is going on. Undyne, Alphys, and Paps are there too, all there to, allegedly, support Rose. They probably also want to see what Cinnamon can do.

Sans is sweating.

Cyn brings up the board with Asgore. She starts with a small attack, following Asgore’s instructions. She has to practice on someone, and he’s the most likely to be able to take it, but they have still been trying, all this time, not to hurt each other.

Until today.

Asgore brings out his magic spear, made to hurt a SOUL rather than a body, and he thrusts it towards Cyn-

Who slides neatly to the side, staggering a little.

Her face is all confusion, and the board vanishes. Asgore is confused too.

Sans sweats a little more.

Asgore tries again, taking his turn after Cyn’s next attack, and again she moves aside.

Or is moved aside.

Rose stares at Papyrus, remembering his blue attack. But Papyrus is staring at Sans.

Sans is getting a little uncomfortable.

Asgore is impressed, and decides he can get a little more serious. He’s faster this time, and Sans panics, and Cinnamon goes flying halfway across the room and falls on her butt.

“Okay, will whoever is doing that just let me practice?” She yells at all the onlookers, getting up and brushing dirt and flower petals from her clothes. She’s shaking, though. Someone is using magic on her without her permission, and it is not comfortable when she is trying to focus on a fight. Unless this is some new power she has, and she doesn’t know what she would even do with that information.

Sans leaves the room.

Papyrus is observant. He knows, even before looking for it, what his brother has done. Is doing. He is trying to send a message comprised of wiggling brow bones to his brother to try and convince him to stop interfering with the human’s training, but unfortunately his brother is looking in the wrong direction. So when Sans finally leaves, Papyrus follows after. His brother is in need of his help and counsel, after all! 

The shorter skeleton did not get far, only a few halls away, before he turned to address his brother. It was fine, Papyrus knew Sans had noticed him following.

“’sup bro?” his tone was casual. Too casual.

“YOUR NEW MATE WIL NOT GROW STRONGER IF YOU KEEP HER FROM TRAINING!” Sans winced at the word ‘mate’. “I THINK THESE NEW INSTINCTS ARE AFFECTING YOU MORE THAN YOU EXPECTED. BUT WORRY NOT! THE GREAT PAPYRUS WILL MAKE SURE YOU DO NOT DO ANYTHING TOO SILLY AGAIN!”

“heh. Thanks bro. you’re really cool, ya know.” He leaned against the wall, hands shoved deep in hiss hoodie pockets. “maybe you’re right. I might be in real deep. kinda thought it’d be easier.”

“YOU ARE NOW CONNECTED TO SOMEONE’S VERY BEING, EXPERIENCING EMOTIONS AND THOUGHTS THAT YOU DO NOT USUALLY ALLOW YOURSELF TO HAVE. YOU PUSHED THEM AWAY IN THE PAST, AND ARE NOW UNPREPARED TO DEAL WITH THEM!” Papyrus nodded knowingly. And Sans was shocked. He shouldn’t be, really. But sometimes is was so easy to forget how smart his brother was. Smart and kind and strong and the best brother in the world.

“maybe you’re right, paps. so, what does the best royal guardsman suggest I do?”

Papyrus lit up like a Gyftmas tree. It was so rare that Sans sought his advice! “WELL I THINK IT IS OBVIOUS! YOU NEED TRAINING!” When his brother did not immediately respond to this, he forged on. “EMOTIONS TRAINING! WE MUST PREPARE AN EMOTIONAL TYPE OBSTACLE COURSE AND MAYBE YOU AND THE SISTER HUMAN CAN DO THAT TRAINING TOGETHER, SINCE YOU ARE MOSTLY SOUL BONDED! IT COULD EVEN BE LIKE A DATE! AH, BUT THEN THE TRAINING DATE WOULD NEED MORE FLOWERS, AND MAYBE CANDLES, AND YOU ARE OF COURSE NOT ALLOWED TO RUIN THE MOOD WITH PUNS OF ANY KIND- THAT SHOULD BE ANOTHER RULE, NO TRAINING SHOULD EVER HAVE PUNS-“

Sans let Papyrus ramble on, now only half paying attention. Emotional training, huh? Maybe... maybe he should tell her. he would tell her, and apologize, and then after she fought Flowey, he would find a way to break the bond. It was only half formed anyway. She hadn’t done anything to his SOUL. So it shouldn’t be that hard.

***

Rose was glad that the interference had stopped, but it still felt uncomfortable to watch as Asgore hit Cinnamon with the magic trident. It hurt to see their sister flinch with pain. Somehow, they knew Asgore had just grazed her, barely done any damage, but it felt wrong to just let it happen. They CHECKed Cyn’s stats, and saw that yes, he had only done one damage to Cinnamon’s max HP of... 100. One hundred? That was... high. Way higher than Rose’s fifteen. Was it because her SOUL was a different color?

Cinnamon stopped the battle and walked over to her sibling. “Wanna try to heal me?” She offered an encouraging smile.

Rose smiled back. They were feeling confident. “Yeah!” They focused, trying to see their sister’s SOUL. It... wasn’t working. They couldn’t even feel it like they had been able to earlier. They tried again to think back, back to when they had healed Cyn in that desperate time. Then they remembered. The song. Or the thing that had been like a song. They stopped looking for the SOUL. And they started listening. And they saw it. it wasn’t like sight really, or hearing, it was... sensing? Knowing. Just knowing. And their hands glowed green with the magic that Cyn needed, needed to be whole. It seemed so simple in this moment. Toriel’s pride and Cyn’s wonder was lost on them, because it was nothing special. Fixing Cyn was just the most natural thing in the world. And they could see, without even CHECKing, her restored HP.

“My child,” Toriel started, voice thick with pride, “You did it. You used your healing!”

“Damn, I feel great, Rose!” Cinnamon felt that pride too, that their sibling had done it, had made that click. And they honestly felt amazing, not just physically. When Toriel had healed them before, it had been a warm feeling, like a hug. Like safety. But with Rose, it was different. It felt like peace. The absence of worry. Joy. Like returning home to the ones you love. Relief. All at once.

Toriel glanced at Cinnamon’s SOUL as she continued to praise her sibling. It was... not exactly what she expected. The first time the queen saw Cinnamon’s HP, she was surprised to find her max so high. Saddened to see it at 13/100 while she was bleeding out. But now, after Rose’s healing... her first healing, no less, it was 109/100. For a first time, that was impressive. To say the least.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Papyrus tries so hard, he really does.


	21. Quality Time

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some human siblings spend some time with some monster siblings.

“I think it’s ‘zucchini’, but... where is there an ‘h’ in zucchini? I’ve never had to spell it before. Huh. Hadn’t thought about that before. I’ve gone my whole life without ever writing the word zucchini.”

“I BELIEVE YOU ARE CORRECT! THE ‘H’ GOES THERE.” Papyrus filled in the blank line on the week’s junior jumble. Today was a rare break in the human’s training, as the King, Queen, and Rose were going to further political negotiations, escorted by Sans. Alphys and Undyne were on a date, and so Papyrus had offered to keep Cinnamon company. She was incredibly grateful, especially since there had been a weird uncomfortable feeling in her chest since the others had left. “YOU ARE VERY GOOD AT JUNIOR JUMBLE! THIS MAY BE ONE PUZZLE IN WHICH YOU HAVE BEAT THE GREAT PAPYRUS!”

Unused to the praise, she blushed a bit. “Thanks Papyrus. I can’t believe no one told me about the weekly puzzles. I would have been doing them in my spare time. Like, all of it. especially when I was stuck in bed that one day.”

“I AM ALSO SURPRISED! PUZZLES OF ALL KIND ARE MONSTER TRADITION! THAT YOU HAVE COME SO FAR AND DONE NOT A SINGLE PUZZLE IS BORDERLINE ILLEGAL! THUS IT IS THE DUTY OF PAPYRUS, THE GREATEST AND MOST POPULAR ROYAL GUARDSMAN, TO RECTIFY THIS PROBLEM!”

“You are truly my hero,” she said, nudging him affectionately. They had really hit it off during the anime watching session with Alphys and Undyne, with Cyn’s knowledge of anime tropes baffling Papyrus with incredibly accurate predictions. For some reason this easy friendship with him felt... really natural.

“NYEH HEH HEH! AND YOU AND ROSE ARE MY HEROES!”

“Really? Why? That one is squash.” She pointed at another line.

“RIDICULOUS! SQUASH IS AN ACTION, NOT A VEGETABLE! AND THE THEME OF THIS ONE IS VEGETABLES! BUT YOU ARE MY HEROES BECAUSE YOU HAVE BROKEN THE BARRIER AND BECOME SANS’ FRIENDS! NOW HE HANGS OUT WITH YOU HUMANS ALMOST AS MUCH AS WITH ME!”

“Squash is also a vegetable. Here, I can show you on my human phone if you gimme a second.” She pulled out her phone and did a quick google search. “The barrier thing wasn’t even on purpose. Although I’m really glad we could help! But... I just wanted to find Rose. I didn’t know what else was going to happen. I didn’t even- I didn’t even CARE for a while. I just cared that I had Rose back.”

The internet’s explanation of vegetables didn’t seem to satisfy Papyrus, but he wrote down ‘squash – if it makes you happy’ on the appropriate blank. “YOUR RESONANCE AND LOVE FOR EACH OTHER IS STILL WHAT SAVED US. EVEN BEFORE GETTING TO KNOW YOU, I KNEW SOMEONE WITH ENOUGH LOVE TO BREAK THE BARRIER HAD TO BE AN AMAZING PERSON.”

“Rose is the amazing one. I’m just trying to keep up, at this point. They’ve been through so much.” Her voice was quiet, almost reverential. “They have so many friends. I’m so proud.”

Papyrus sensed there was something extra here that he couldn’t quite pinpoint. “THIS ONE IS DEFINITELY TOMATO.”

“Papyrus? How come you and Sans don’t resonate like Rose and I?”

He stiffened. “I-I CAN’T SAY I KNOW, HUMAN. I DON’T REALLY UNDERSTAND THAT KIND OF SOUL BOND. BUT I CAN’T SAY- I CANNOT SAY THAT I AM NOT JEALOUS. EVEN THE GREAT PAPYRUS HAS HIS DOWNFALLS.” He deflated a bit. “MAYBE SANS SOUL IS TOO LAZY TO RESONATE WITH MINE! NYEH HEH HEH!” His heart wasn’t really in it and Cyn immediately felt bad.

“I’m sorry for bringing it up.”

“WORRY NOT HUMAN! INSTEAD, WE SHOULD FOCUS ON DEFEATING THIS WORD PUZZLE TOGETHER!”

They continued in their endeavor for a while, before she spoke again. “Have you ever... seen Sans have a panic attack?”

“IT... HAS HAPPENED.” He looked uncomfortable again, but Cyn pressed on.

“How do you comfort him? Everyone takes it differently; I need physical contact, but Rose needs their space...”

“I AM SIMPLY THERE FOR HIM. HE DOES NOT NECESSARILY NEED CONTACT, BUT IT APPEARS TO HELP WHEN THERE IS SOMEONE AROUND. AND THEN HE HAS TO SLEEP IT OFF!”

“Oh, okay. I just- I saw him have one the other day, and wanted to know how to help if it happened again.”

“YOU SAW HIM? HAVE A PANIC ATTACK?” His brother was a very private person, and never allowed anyone but Papyrus to see his ‘weaker’ sides. Even then, he seemed to hate relying on his brother.

“yeah. I almost felt... led to him? like with Rose, but much much weaker.”

Papyrus let out a sigh. Soulbonds. It seemed sans had yet to do any explaining. “HUMAN. IT IS NOT MY PLACE TO SAY WHY, EXACTLY, BUT YOU AND SANS NEED TO HAVE A TALK!”

“Why?” Oh gosh, had she done something wrong after all? Did he still not trust her? had he lost her knife or something?

“I! SHOULD NOT SAY! IT IS A PRIVATE MATTER. THAT HE WAS SUPPOSED TO BRING UP A WHILE AGO. BUT THAT BROTHER OF MINE SEEMS TO DELIGHT IN BEING DIFFICULT. HOWEVER, THE CONVERSATION IS LONG OVER DUE, BY NO FAULT OF YOUR OWN!” His reassurances weren’t that reassuring, but Cyn decided to just confront Sans as soon as the group came back from the embassy.

***

Sans could feel the tightness in his chest like a rubber band about to snap. he opened and closed his fist in his pockets while the humans discussed the next move with his king and queen. He would still drop the odd joke or pun, but they were becoming more and more forced. When the negotiations broke for lunch, Rose approached him. 

“You doing okay?”

He was eating away from the rest, some fancy spread provided by the human government. Every now and then Tori would shoot him worried glances. “we back on speaking terms then, kiddo?” he tried to keep the hope from his voice. 

“I guess.” they let it a heavy sigh, but there was a smile behind it. “Holding grudges has never been my strength. And you really look like somethings wrong.”

They followed Sans as he took his cup to the food table and dumped half a bottle of ketchup in, while a human secretary looked on in horror. “honestly not sure kid. But something feels off.”

“About the negotiations?” Rose had actually thought they were going quite well. The humans had tried to force a couple things, thinking the monsters wouldn't notice, but Rose had caught them. Well, there were a couple times Sans had prompted them to say something, when he heard anything fishy. 

“no, the negotiations are actually going much better than I thought. Just. It started when we left the castle I guess? It's probably nothing.”

“Sounds like anxiety.”

That helped it click. It was the dumb bond. He wasn't close enough to make sure cinnamon was safe, and the bond didn't like it. it had been better the past couple days while the humans trained, so he thought leaving the girl alone would be fine. Apparently not. As if it flipped a switch, the anxiety suddenly doubled. What if Flowey found a way into the castle while he was gone? What if the idiot went outside alone? What if she had tripped and fallen? Would he even know? He had to make sure Cyn- no, the only one they had to fight the human souls, had to make sure they were okay. He needed to see them. but no way was he leaving Rose and the other monsters here without protection.

“hey kid, humor me for a minute.”

“Okay?” Rose was now worried. They had already figured out that Sans had seen things, and he showed all the symptoms of depression. If he had anxiety too... did monsters have therapists?

“can ya shoot your sister a text or somethin’, to make sure sh- things are alright down there?”

“Alright...” They began typing out a quick message. “Why not just call Papyrus?”

“he has our phone.”

Rose face-palmed. “Sans! You need a phone too! Let’s ask Asgore to get you one from Alphys or something when we get back.”

“eh phones are expensive.” He grinned at the little human, who was now crossing their arms and sending strict glances his way. It was cute how much they cared.

“You’re a bodyguard to the ambassador now! We’re getting you a phone!”


	22. Like a Band-Aid

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cyn and Sans finally talk

The hallway was quiet. Too quiet. Cyn rounded the corner just in time to witness a flash of blue. She stomped her foot in frustration. Before he seemed to be around every corner, but ever since the last human/monster conference, he had definitely been avoiding her! she kept trying to track him down in between training sessions with both Asgore and Undyne. As the king was needed more and more for politics, the feisty fish lady was taking up training with Cinnamon and Rose. She had tried to recruit Papyrus into tracking down his brother, but so far the energetic skeleton hadn’t been able to help much either.

“HEY! PUNK!” Cyn whirled around to see Undyne in full battle armor, Rose tucked under one arm. “Rose said human bathroom breaks are only a few minutes!”

“Traitor!” Cyn shouted in mock horror.

“C’mon Cyn, let’s just get it over with!” Rose pleaded, giggling some despite being hauled around like a sack of potatoes.

Cinnamon might have also been hiding from Undyne, just a little. Fights with Asgore had been tiring, but with Undyne they were downright brutal! “Ten minute break!” Cinnamon pleaded, already backing up and ready to run.

“Real heroes don’t take breaks! Not until the job is done!” with barely concealed glee, Undyne barreled towards the human girl, who felt very small.

Her record for outrunning Undyne stood at about thirty seconds. Maybe she could make it forty when Undyne was in full armor?

She dashed away, trying to rely on her agility by taking tight corners, but she knew it was a losing battle. If running counted as training, maybe she had technically lost already?

“hey, human.”

She saw the outstretched phalanges from a hallway to the left and ran, grabbing the hand. And then They were somewhere else. A room they didn’t recognize. She was still holding his hand, and was about to release it when she thought better. She squeezed it instead.

“looked like you could use a hand there, pal.” Sans was his usually grinning self, with nothing to indicate that he had been avoiding her for days. Except maybe the blue tint to his cheeks. “kinda, um, need the hand back tho.”

“I don’t think so. Not until you explain several things.”

Sweat beading on his forehead, Sans tried to yank away his hand, but found Cyn’s grip surprisingly strong. Unfortunately, she followed the trajectory and stumbled forward. Sans went to catch her, but one of his hands was still tied up in hers, so she fell and he landed on top of her. resisting her natural reaction of getting up, she gripped his hand still tighter.

“Can’t do the teleport thing when I’m holding on, can you?”

“uh, not so much, no.” he rolled off of her, and then they were both laying on the floor together, connected by their hands. They lay there a minute, just breathing.

“So why were you avoiding me?”

“heh,” he gave a dark chuckle. “alright, I’ll answer some questions, but can we do easy ones first?”

She thought for a second. “’kay.” But had that really been a difficult question? What was an easier one? “So... you still have my knife right? Haven’t lost it or anything?”

“... yeah, I still got it. left it back home. Guess I should give it back; seems you found a new one anyway.”

“Yeah, please. Me and that knife... we’ve been through a lot together.”

“can’t really stop you but... you gonna, uh, misuse it again?”

“I’m gonna try not to.”

Silence for a minute.

“why were you so desperate to get away from undyne?”

“Ha. I thought I could make it through, persevere or whatever, but I almost passed out on my first full session with her. I can’t be expected to do that two days in a row! Rose just has to practice healing and do little exercises, but Undyne makes me do as much physical training as magical.” Just thinking about the training routine of recent days made her shiver. “freakin’ exhausting.”

“heh. Don’t know how papyrus does it sometimes.”

“Gosh I keep forgetting he trains with her too. Oh no what if she makes us all train together? There’s no way I could take both of their energy levels at once in a situation like that.”

“if ya need me, I’ll come save you.” He didn’t even realize what he was saying until it was already out. That probably sounded really weird.

“So why have you been avoiding me? Papyrus said there was something you needed to tell me?”

Shit. He wasn’t ready. He wasn’t ready at all. Maybe if he just got it all out. No. just what she needs to know. It might be affecting her too, after all. “remember when I brought you back after your fight with Flowey?”

“Psh. Much as I can, seeing as I was passing out from blood loss.”

“... I’m sorry. Rose was right, I shoulda pulled you out sooner.”

“I beat him, though.”

“You coulda died.”

“I could still die.”

“no, you don’t...” he was frustrated, but it needed to be said. “you almost died. You were dying, right there, because I didn’t pull you out fast enough. Your body... did die. Just for a few seconds!”

Cinnamon froze. What. What did that mean. She knew she had passed out, had been healed by both Rose and Toriel, and she knew it had been bad, but... she had died?

Sans could feel her panicking over the bond, and rushed to continue. “I can’t heal, that’s not what I do, and I couldn’t just let you die, so i... I gave you some of my magic. I didn’t use it on you, I gave it to you. I gave you a piece of my SOUL. It was enough to keep your SOUL alive so that tori and rose could heal your body. So now we have something called a SOULbond and um, we can feel each other, and it’s a lot like your resonance with rose...” his rambling trailed off as the human beside him neither moved nor spoke. “uh, you still there pal?”

“I died. I DIED. Sans, I... I can’t die!” there was an edge of hysteria to her voice. “Fuck, does- does Rose know that I died?”

“uh, not exactly... but you didn’t die! Youre here, and youre fine and its... okay?” he wasn’t sure who the question was directed at. The universe? Was it okay?

“It’s not FUCKING OKAY, and I’m NOT FINE.” She shot up into a sitting position, her face in her hands. “Shit, I thought it was fine, that I could be healed and just... but I died!” somewhat manic laughter spilled forth, but Sans saw that tears did as well.

“hey, hey, you’re both... you’re both safe right now.” Her panic and fear and... anger? Anger. Trickled through the bond, making it hard for him to stay calm. He was able to tamp it down; it seemed easier when they were this physically close? And he hesitantly placed his hand on her back.

As if she had been waiting for permission, she started at the physical contact, but immediately leaned onto him. hse needed grounding, something physical to keep her tethered to the present when her mind was reeling with the new information. After a few minutes of her silent crying – he could feel her sobbing, but she made no noise – she calmed down, simply clinging to his clothes. It felt right. Being near him felt right to her. “Alright.” Her voice was small. “Tell me about this bond.”

“well... it involves an exchange of magic from our SOULs. When I gave you monster magic, it helped increase your lifespan, and your hardiness, your ability to heal... enough to keep you alive.”

“But you said I died.”

“no, your body died. Your SOUL was still there, and it pulled your body back.” She seemed to be thinking, so he waited for her to give him a nod before continuing. “so you’re alive, which is cool. I didn’t really take any of your magic into my SOUL, so the bond is pretty one-way right now. Meaning I’m feeling a lot of your emotions and stuff, but you’re not feeling mine. You might also have gotten a power boost? Not really sure how it works with humans...”

“So that’s why I feel weird when you’re gone. And how I can find you when I’m looking. And sometimes I feel emotions that- I don’t know where they came from.”

He looked at Cyn in surprise. “that’s actually, um, a lot more than you should be feeling. Normally for that you’d have to... huh. I certainly don’t feel you in my SOUL.”

“Maybe because I’m human? You said you don’t know how it works with us.”

“well, usually humans aren’t nearly so in touch with their SOULs, so you should be feeling less than normal, not more...” Sans looked off in thought. He tried to remember what her SOUL had felt like, that insane day when he... when he looked into her SOUL and... and had touched on her very being. His cheeks flushed blue. But there was something there, some hint, that was just out of his reach...

“Why does your face do that sometimes?”

“huh?” he was pulled form his thoughts. “do what?”

“Turn blue.”

“oh. Heh. Its, um, excess magic? like, I guess like a human blush?”

“Oh my gosh that’s adorable. And explains a lot. So is it like, a biological thing, or emotional? Is magic like blood?”

“ya know, we can go back to talking about SOULbonds now.”

“Ooh, it’s emotional, isn’t it? you embarrassed we have to share emotions now?”

Emotions. That was it. that was why the bond was so strong. Why she could use the SOUL board. Why she was so in tune with her sibling, even more so since coming to the underground. Why her dreams had been so- no, why she had been having his dreams... “You’re an empath.”

“What?”

“your magic.” He turned to her, his grin sincere. It felt good to put this puzzle together. So many questions were answered. “its about seeing, feeling, and doing what others see feel and do! That’s why the bond is so strong with you! That’s why you can use monster magic for SOULboards! That’s why your nightmares-“ he cut himself off. Now that they knew, they could use it better. 

“What about my nightmares, Sans?” Her voice was unmistakably cold now.

He went deathly still. “uh...”


	23. Lingering Fears

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cinnamon tries to reconcile their new world with their old one. Flowey meets an old friend.

Angry AngrY ANGRY. Stupid StUpId STUPID. In times of doubt, frustration, or anything close to an emotion, he found himself back in the ruins. He almost wished there were some froggits or spiders left to terrorize. But no. that wasn’t the plan. Well, maybe if...

He paused in his demolition of the walls. He had heard something. His giant grotesque form shifted, legs of thick and thorny vine stomping at the ground. His many eyes darted about. With some effort, he shifted back to his small flower form, and dipped below the soil. His roots spread and he followed the vibrations that might be footsteps. It wasn’t hard to catch up, the steps were slow, as if the owner of the feet was taking a leisurely stroll through a park, rather than wandering the empty halls of a long-abandoned home. Flowey smiled to himself. He would simply take his frustration out on this poor soul, and LOAD over and over until he felt better. He frowned to himself. How had the human noticed the loads? They weren’t supposed to. But he put that aside as he popped up in front of his victim.

“Hiya! I’m Flowey! Flowey the flow... er...” His voice dried up as he stared up at the thing before him. the human before him. the H U M A N.

 

 

F  
R  
I  
S  
K  
?

 

 

***

“your dreams were, um, probably tapping into my nightmares. Some of your other dreams might be from other people in the castle, too.”

Cinnamon thought about that. Her dreams had always been unusual amalgamations of stories and influence from her waking hours, but had any of them noticeably changed since she came undergound...? “Spaghetti. I have dreams where spaghetti comes out of the sink.”

Sans laughed. “that’s probably paps then.”

“Wait, now THAT explains why I’ve been having so many Mew Mew Kissy Cutie dreams! I knew it was strange when I’d only seen a few episodes! Oh gosh, which of my dreams were other peoples... could I like, learn to use this to read minds or something?”

“uh, maybe? You can definitely get impressions of peoples emotions and general things, that’s been proven. You might even be able to use other people’s magic? hey. I don’t like that smile.”

But she was really grinning now. “Probably best to test this with someone I’m close to. Maybe someone I have a SOULbond with?”

“what are you getting at, kid...?”

“Teach me to teleport!”

***

There were a few seconds where the two parties stared at each other in confusion.

Before Frisk’s SOUL was pulled onto Flowey’s SOULboard.

“Well golly! This sure is a surprise! HahahaHAHAHAHA. Ha.” Flowey couldn’t believe it. They didn’t think they would come back. They thought Frisk had given up or something. They had been confused when the different human had fallen. But! Just when he thought he had lost one of his precious new SOULs! The universe saw fit to give him a new one. “You know the drill! Catch the friendliness pellets!”

As the bullets head towards their heart, Frisk easily dodges.

[MERCY]

“Tsk, tsk, still think you can win this kind of game? Well what about THIS.” And his body is growing, changing, into that horrible disfigured amalgamation of plant and machine as Frisk looks on in horror. “Buh-BYE!”

Frisk dodges the first couple of attacks, desperately trying to run, but it never works!

[MERCY]

/Really Frisk?/

[MERCY]

/Come oooooon, let’s do it MY way./

[ACT] “Flowey, please, I don’t want to fight.” Frisk begs.

/Let’s stop running!/

***

“uh, no. it’s tricky business, and you should focus on fighting better.”

“Uuuuugggggghhhhhhhh.”

“I know I call you kid sometimes, but now you’re just actin like a brat.”

“I wanna teleport!”

“bummer.”

Cinnamon flopped dramatically to the floor. “But if I learn, I can be Rose’s bodyguard! And get out of training.”

“we don’t even know if you can use other people’s abilities when you’re separated.” Sans thought about this. “huh. you might not even be able to use a SOULboard away from monsters. I mean, you only need it to fight flowey, so I guess it doesn’t matter...”

“About that. What do I do after we defeat-but-don’t-kill this flower? Will they still teach me magic?” Toriel and Rose had obviously bonded, but would she be cast aside? No, Rose wouldn’t let that happen to her. she trusted her sibling. But then what would she do? “Hell, what am I gonna do with my life? I haven’t even checked my e-mails from my college! Can I even still go? And my parents! They keep calling so I just turned my phone on silent, but...” her chest felt tight, and tears pricked at her eyes.

Sans could feel her going into a panic attack. “it’ll be fine. Hey, its fine. Cinnamon.” He put his hands gently over her arms, unsure of what else to do. As she stopped shaking and her breathing slowly calmed, he gathered that had been the right thing to do.

“I’m scared.” Her voice was a whisper. “I was distracting myself with all the new stuff, new people, but... I’m so scared. I so tired of being scared.”

“yeah. I know.” His thoughts went back to when he had touched her SOUL to form the bond. He had almost forgotten it after feeling her hope and love, but that initial burst of fear had been near overwhelming. How could one person hold so much hope and fear at the same time? His had lost balance a long time ago.

***

Flowey reeled at the blow struck to him. “Ha. So you finally realized huh?” he laughed, and the caverns shook with the noise. “It’s kill or be killed! But you can’t use your little tricks on me anymore!”

[FIGHT]

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> :) huh, wonder why this kid is here.


	24. Some Apples Fall Farther from the Tree

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> the humans' parents are not letting their children go easily.

Toriel wrung her hands as she paced back and forth. How should she approach this? The children seemed to want to stay with her, which was wonderful, but what if they changed their minds? They had every right to, of course she wouldn’t keep them if they didn’t want to stay now that they were on the surface. But if they wanted to stay, what would she do about the humans? Maybe something about changing to monster citizenship. But then there were already talks of future merging of citizens!

“knock knock.” She looked to see Sans in the doorway, and the look on his face indicated he had tried and failed to get her attention several times.

“Ah, I apologize Sans, I was distracted.” She bowed her frame meekly.

“’s not how you answer a knock knock joke. Knock knock.” He tried again.

“Who is there?”

“Iva.”

“Iva who?”

“iva noticed you seem distressed.” She chuckled softly at that, and he finally walked over. “things have really been crazy, huh? whats got you all worked up now?”

“Well, the siblings... It seems Rose and Cinnamon’s parents saw Rose on the news and are demanding their children be returned.” Sans’ eye lights disappeared, but Toriel didn’t notice as she continued to fret. “I know I must talk to the children about what to do. The human government seems insistent that I send Rose and Cinnamon back to their parents, but if the children do not want to go, then I do not want to force them into such a place...”

“we can’t let them. tori, I’ll be right back.” And Sans vanished, leaving the queen alone with her worries once more.

***

Sans easily found Cinnamon in the kitchen, watching Rose and Undyne compete in a battle of wills over the oven temperature.

“It has to be a low temperature so that it will bake evenly.” Rose repeated, probably for the hundredth time.

“It’s an oven!” Undyne threw her hands in the air. “I’ll admit that maybe spaghetti is different, but things in the oven are SUPPOSED to be on fire!”

“No they are not!” Rose stomped a foot. “I need to make this right for mom!”

Cinnamon noticed Sans as soon as he appeared, and waved at him from her place sitting on the counter. She was smiling. He decided he liked it when she smiled.

“Hey Sans. Sup?”

“I actually need to talk to you. Alone.” She narrowed her eyes, but followed him out into the hall. “tori got a call. Your parents found you and theyre trying to get you back.” Before he finished the sentence he could feel the panic attack. Dammit, tact! Where was his tact! “hey we won’t let them do that!” he moved to rub her arm, but she mistook his intentions and pulled him into a hug. He didn’t mind too much, hugging her back. “we wont let them hurt you.”

Cyn snorted. “Impossible, but I appreciate the sentiment.” She was starting to calm down already. That was truly fast. “Okay. Okay. We need to get Rose listed as a monster citizen. That will solve most of the problems right there.”

“lemme take you to tori, she kinda freakin out about it too.”

“yeah, yeah.”

Toriel is right where eh left her, and has returned to pacing. She starts when Sans and Cyn appear. “Oh! Oh dear, is there something you need, my child?”

“Only to talk about Rose,” the human replies gently. Sans feels some sort of humming through the bond, an emotion he cant quite place. “Sans told me about my parents, and I want to make sure Rose doesn’t see them any sooner, or more often, then they’re ready for.”

Toriel seems to relax. “Oh thank stars. I am quite at a loss as to how to proceed with the situation. But, of course we must consider your well being as well.”

Cinnamon smiles warmly, and Sans can place that emotion now. Genuine love. Its not the same that she feels for Rose, and neither is it the passive affection held for all her friends and others. This is an active feeling of love, the same way one feels happiness or sadness. “Thanks Toriel. But you don’t have to worry about me so much. In fact, maybe if I could get a monster phone? Or get mine put on the underground call service or whatever?”

“Yes my child, that can absolutely be done. Now, about your parents?”

“Well, first I want to explain our situation with them. our parents aren’t physically abusive, if you were worried about that. They are emotionally manipulative and pushy about anything they think is best, but choose to ignore how this hurts us. That’s why we want to stay with you, although I’m sure that eventually Rose will want to visit them. they aren’t completely bad people, just... very misguided. The first step is changing Rose to monster citizenship.” Sans notes that Cinnamon left out many things that she had told him in the past, but says nothing. This is enough. This is her life not his. As much as he wants to keep these humans from their parents forever...

“I had thought about that dear, but then we are also working towards getting monsters official citizenship, putting Rose back at the mercy of full human law.”

“That would require so many extra laws, it won’t be done for months, likely years, more than long enough for us to figure out a new solution. I think that maybe, with enough time and communication, our parents will let us stay here without a fight. In fact,” Cyn took a deep breath, steeling herself, “I am going to see them. I’m legally an adult, so I can bail whenever I need to.”

“Alright my dear. Then, whenever you are prepared to do so, please take Sans with you, and make sure to let me know, will you not?” Toriel pulled the human girl into an affectionate hug, which was eagerly returned.

With Toriel preparing the list of paperwork to retrieve with Asgore, with whom she was now spending a significant amount of time, Cyn left the room. Sans trailed behind. He felt everything she did, although he was getting better at separating it from his own emotions.

“so, uh, what are you gonna do?” he asked as they walked.

“Find a way out of all this. Can I use your room?” Cyn asked abruptly.

“um, what for?”

“To make a private phone call,” she practically growled. Despite that, he felt her fear.

“yeah, of course. Let’s go.” It took only seconds to arrive, and Cyn quickly looked through her text messages that she had been ignoring the past few weeks. There were several from her friends, who were worried at her lack of contact, but almost a hundred from her parents. The most recent one was a day or so ago saying that they saw Rose on TV.

Cinnamon took a deep breath and dialed the number.


	25. Conflicts and Interest

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> the humans dont want to go home  
> and Cyn does NOT want to kiss a skeleton! what a ridiculous suggestion!

Their mother wouldn’t stop crying. Their father was demanding that they come home this instant. Cinnamon was passively listening, her face getting more and more emotionless by the second. Sans was getting more and more tense.

“So why, again, are you staying with these... self-proclaimed monsters?” Her father had taken the phone from their blubbering mother.

“They’re our friends. The queen herself has offered to take care of us in exchange for some help with monster human relations. We are not being kept against our will.” Cyn’s voice was far too tired for only being on the phone a couple minutes.

“When are you coming home?”

“Don’t know.”

She could practically feel her father’s anger through the phone, and felt her courage whither up. She tried to calm herself by reminding herself that it stemmed from his fear for their safety, not hatred of his children, but it didn’t ease the knot of fear in her guts.

“Cinnamon, you are legally an adult, and we can’t make you do anything. But we are not letting our thirteen year old child stay with someone we haven’t met, let alone with MONSTERS that could be BRAINWASHING them for all we know!”

“DAD! I am here and I am taking care of us! If you don’t want to trust our new friends I cant make you, but why can’t you just trust ME for once?” 

Sans flinched at her yelling. And she was crying too now, hoo boy. The stomach he didn’t have felt like it was twisting in knots, fear and anger coursing through the bond. He wanted to fix this. He wanted to get rid of their parents, or just make them go somewhere so that they would never yell at Cinnamon again, never make either of their children feel this fear.

“You are still a CHILD! You don’t know whether or not they’ll hurt you, or eat you, or use you!” her father was getting more and more worked up.

Cyn snapped. She was done. She was so done. She had taken it, been a trooper, for so long, and she just didn’t want to anymore. “You know what I DO know, dad? I know what YOU hurt us. You hurt us over and over- never listened-“ her father was trying to interrupt, the talk over her, but her volume simply escalated- “AND EVERY TIME WE COMPLAINED, EVERY TIME WE TRIED TO COMPROMISE WITH YOU, IT WAS NEVER ENOUGH! NOTHING! WE DID! WAS EVER ENOUGH FOR YOU! IT HAD TO BE YOUR WAY, YOUR CHOICE, ALL THE TIME! AND WE JUST FOLLOWED BECAUSE WE DIDN’T KNOW WHEN YOU WOULD TAKE AWAY OUR RIGHT TO EVEN LEAVE THE HOUSE! SO WE’RE STAYING WITH MONSTERS THAT RESPECT US, RATHER THAN MONSTERS WHO NEVER LISTEN TO US!” And with that, without even hanging up, she threw the phone at the wall, panting.

Sans wrapped her immediately in a tight hug. She broke down crying immediately. She was so scared. She was so, so scared. She had never done anything like that before and she hated that she knew it would hurt her parents. She didn’t want to hurt them, but the alternative was them hurting her and Rose, and she was so, so tired. Sans rubbed her back comfortingly while she sobbed.

“I-I didn’t w-want to yell! W-what if now they h-hate me?”

“it’s okay. Sshhh.” He wasn’t sure what to do. The only other person he had ever had to comfort was Papyrus. “we’re all here for you. No one’s gonna hurt you, sweetheart. I wont let ‘em.” She clung to him, not noticing or not caring that he had used a pet name. but he noticed. He wasn’t actually developing feelings for her... was he?

***

“O-oh, shoot,” Alphys exclaimed as she hit the wrong button again. The portable consoles were not made for monster hands; her fingers were far thicker than a human’s and so she often ended up pressing the wrong buttons.

Cinnamon grimaced. “sorry, I always got the smaller models so I could fit them in my pocket.”

“I-it’s fine!” alphys tried to reassure her, “I’m s-still really having f-fun!” Recently, especially when Rose was out doing politics, Cyn and Alphys would get together to discuss surface anime and video games. They invited Undyne too sometimes, but this time they were playing with consoles that weren’t built for Undyne’s... enthusiasm. “S-so, I’ve b-been meaning t-t-to ask, What’s the d-deal with you and Sans?”

“What?” Cyn’s face flushed. “There’s no deal. He helps Rose and me out sometimes.”

Alphys smiled ruefully. “Oh r-really? I’ve s-seen you several t-times in each other’s arms.”

“W-when did you-!”

“Y-you seem t-to forget, I made m-most of the castle s-security. And there are c-cameras everywhere!” she giggled as Cyn his her face in her hands.

“He’s just really good at calming me down? Like a safe space. It’s probably because of the bond thing.”

“H-he finally t-told y-you about t-that?!” Alphys didn’t bother hiding her surprise. She figured Sans would put it off for as long as possible. He always seemed to enjoy his secrets.

“Yeah. It really explains why I’ve been having all these weird... feelings? Why I like to have him around, and why it’s so fun to talk to him and stuff, and I guess why he calms me down.”

Alphys smiled knowingly. “Y-you know, a b-bond doesn’t account f-for ALL of that.”

“What do you mean?” Cyn knew what she meant.

“A b-bond makes you w-want to be physically c-close t-to another m-monster, a-and lets you know their f-feelings, but it can’t make you enjoy their company or want to hug them or smooch them all the time.” She grinned devilishly.

“NO ONE SAID ANYTHING ABOUT KISSING,” Cinnamon shouted way too defensively.

“Aaaaah I ship it! y-you should totally ask him out on a d-d-date!” Alphys squealed.

“No! we don’t have that kind of relationship! We don’t have any kind of relationship! We’re friends!”

“W-would you s-say no if he asked y-you on a d-date?”

“Wha- I don’t know! He wouldn’t! we’re playing video games! Not having girl talk or whatever!”

“I’m p-perfectly comfortable talking about m-my relationship with undyne if you talk about yours with Sans.”

“You are just-“

Alphys was plotting. Long after Cyn had gone, the scientist had gathered Rose, Undyne, and Papyrus to meet with her. they all sat in the hotland lab, sitting on cushions around Alphys’ desk. Rose was looking at the anime collection. Papyrus was examining one of the anime figurines.

“Babe, why are we here?” Undyne finally asked.

Alphys blushed at the term of endearment. “W-we’re here to plan setting up Sans and Cinnamon on a d-d-date! I’m s-sure they b-both like each other, b-but they’re w-worried about it b-being the bond.”

“What bond?” Rose asked, but Alphys was too caught up to listen, or see the unhappy expression grace the human’s features.

“W-we need to get S-sans to ask her on the d-date. B-but not call it t-that! just a f-friendly outing t-to a restaurant w-where they both have to d-dress nice a-a-and then t-to a movie or other b-bonding activity.”

“He could show her around Waterfall!” Undyne supplied, “that place is super romantic!”

“INDEED! I BELIEVE I COULD CONVINCE HIM TO TAKE HER THERE!” Papyrus said.

“R-rose, are there any h-human diseases tthat c-can be cured by k-k-kissing?”

“No!” Rose did not like this. Even if he did like her, Sans didn’t deserve Cyn, after he had almost let her die. If Cyn really liked him, though... Rose didn’t know. They wanted to trust their sister, and she should know the whole story now, but still... they didn’t like this plan.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i've had fun planning this story. I'm currently way more invested in my new works, especially The Itch, but I promise this story has an actual ending and I will get there.
> 
> However, don't be surprised if you see Cinnamon and Rose make an appearance in the future as background characters in Homes After the Mountain.


End file.
